



mi 



MS COUNSELS 
iCiffilSTlMS 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



PAST 




COUNSELS 



YOUXG CHRISTIANS, 



IX A SERIES OF 



FAMILIAR ADDRESSES 



FOLLOWING A 



REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 



. 



& 



Rev. A. C. BALDWIX, 

AUTHOR OF " HELEN AND HER COUSIN," "THEMES AND TEXTS FOR 

THE PULPIT," A PRIZE ESSAY, BEING "FRIENDLY LETTERS 

TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER." — ETC. 



{*/, So 68 - 



&& 




BOSTON: 
CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 

CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, 

Beacon Street. 



lr 



£ 



\l*** 
-$*'' 



(Eopgrtgfjtetf, 1880, 
Bt congregational publishing society. 



Stereotyped bt 

HEYMEE & AMOBY, 

Boston. 



C 03TTEiS"TS. 



Page 

Chapter I. Introductory Remarks, 5 

II. The Foundation of Christian Hope, . . 8 

III. Dangers op Young Christians, ... 19 

IV. Decision op Character, 35 

V. Social Intercourse, 48 

TI. Formation op Habits, 64 

TIL Amusements, 80 

Till. Intellectual Improvement, .... 97 

IX. Study op the Bible, 112 

X. Self-Knowledge, 127 

XI. Christian Progress, 140 

XII. The Christian in Prosperity, . . . 156 

XIII. The Christian in Adversity, . . .173 

XIV. Christian Manliness, 189 

XV. The Vineyard and Laborers, . . . 205 

XVI. The Christian at the Close of Life, . 220 

XVII. The Christian in Heaven, .... 231 

XVIII. The Happiness of Heaven, .... 249 



A PASTOE'S COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory Remarks . 

THERE is no spectacle on which a truly benev- 
olent mind looks with more sincere pleasure, 
than on a company of young persons coming out 
from the world, renouncing its follies and vanities 
for the love they bear the Saviour, and making a 
public profession of their faith. But still, every 
such spectacle, interesting as it is, awakens feel- 
ings, not only of heartfelt joy, but also of deep 
solicitude. The thought cannot fail to be sug- 
gested, How will these professed converts hold 
out? Are they all real disciples, and born of the 
Spirit? If they are true Christians, what kind of 
Christians will they prove ? "Will they be orna- 
ments to the Church, and strengthen it, and carry 
to a higher elevation the standard of piety ? Or 
will they hang as dead weights upon it ; disap- 
point the hopes of their brethren ; prove recreant 
to duty ; backslide, and thus bring a reproach upon 
the cause of Christ? These are most important 



6 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

questions, and it is impossible to answer them in 
advance. Time only can determine. It is well 
to look at the bright side. No advantage is to be 
derived from foreboding evil. On the contrary, 
it is our privilege, and it is our duty, to take as 
favorable a prospective view as circumstances will 
permit, and cherish the delightful hope that the 
entire number of those denominated M Young Con- 
verts," are destined to become both ornaments 
and pillars in the Church of the living God. 

The religious character of a young disciple is, 
in a great measure, unformed, although he may 
have been born again. Whether he will make a 
warm-hearted, active, whole-souled, consistent 
Christian, — staying up the hands of his pastor, 
aiding his brethren, and ready to every good 
work, — or whether he will be a cold, indolent, 
wavering, double-minded, niggardly professor, — 
a grief to his pastor and other Christian friends, 
remains to be decided. Very much depends upon 
the manner in which he commences the Christian 
life, and the views he takes of its duties and re- 
sponsibilities. If he supposes that now, because 
he has a hope of being saved at last, and has 
joined himself to the number of God's people, he 
has nothing to do but to float quietly and at ease 
down the stream of human life, he is very much 
mistaken. Whoever commences his Christian 
course, must at the very outset, have before him a 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7 

high standard of attainment in holy living, or he 
will probably have, in after life, little more than a 
" name to live," and will never accomplish any- 
thing: for the Master worth namino-. 

It is with an affectionate regard for both the 
temporal and spiritual interests of the young, 
just entering their Master's service, that the fol- 
lowing pages have been prepared ; containing 
counsels which it is hoped may help them shape 
their course in life, shun the dangers which they 
are certain to encounter, assist them in forming 
characters of usefulness and piety, prepare them 
for both the joys and sorrows incident to this mor- 
tal state, and animate and cheer them by present- 
ing the blessedness awaiting them in heaven. 

In the pages of this book, the writer begs leave 
to address his young friends with great familiar- 
ity, as if he were holding conversation with them 
by the fireside. 



8 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTER II. 
The Foundation of Christian Hope. 

Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. — 
2 Pet. 1 : 10. 

IN giving counsel to young professors, the first 
thing I would say to you, my dear friends, is, 
consider icell the groundivork of your piety , — the 
foundation on which you have built your hopes of 
heaven. I know of nothing more important for 
you, and everybody else, than this. It will be of 
little use to instruct you in respect to your duties, 
relations, dangers, and responsibilities in the vari- 
ous phases of Christian life, unless you are en- 
titled to the name of " Christians." 

There would be an absurdity in taking much 
pains to point out to a captain of a vessel bound 
for Liverpool, the dangers, the rocks, the shoals, 
the currents, to be guarded against in a voyage to 
the Sandwich Islands. It would be useless to 
talk to a man about the incidents he would meet 
with on his way from Springfield to New York, 
when he was going to Boston. So, as you are 
addressed on subjects appropriate to those who are 



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 9 

going to Mount Zion, the first question for you to 
settle is, are you on the road thither? 

There is no question which a person can ask of 
greater moment than, "Am I a Christian?" You 
will not put by this question as unnecessary 
because it has once or twice been before your 
mind, and you have come to a decision in regard 
to it with~some degree of satisfaction. There will 
never be a time until you get to heaven, if you 
shall be so happy as to reach there, when this 
question will not be an appropriate one for you to 
consider and carefully examine. 

The evidence on this subject is not fixed and 
permanent. We may have what we call very 
good evidence to-day, and but little to-morrow ; or 
we may, unexpectedly to ourselves, find evidence 
which bears very hard on the other side, and which 
may nearly or quite balance the evidence in our 
favor, so that our minds may still be held in 
doubt. 

In this great and important matter, I would 
lead your minds to a thorough and careful discrim- 
ination. 

In the first place, let us give a few moments' 
attention to several particulars which sometimes, 
but not always, attend true Christian experience, 
but which do not of themselves constitute evi- 
dence of piety. 

1. A sudden waking up of the mind to the sub- 



10 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

ject of religion, does not determine that a person 
is a Christian. There are many persons who, dur- 
ing their whole lives, have given hardly a moment's 
serious thought in a personal, practical way, to 
eternal things. They attend church, are inter- 
ested in able and well-composed sermons on 
evangelical themes ; but religion as a personal, 
experimental matter, has engaged none^ of their 
attention. In a time of revival, or general 
religious interest, this class of persons are often 
suddenly aroused from their apathy, and are led 
to think and talk much on religious topics ; and 
not unfrequently they apply the subject to them- 
selves with a considerable degree of anxiety and 
interest. But this is no evidence of piety. The 
mind may be for a time awakened, and then 
relapse again into the same state of stupidity and 
sloth ; just as a person can be awakened from a 
natural sleep for a few moments, and then fall to 
sleep again just as before. 

2. Emotion is not conclusive evidence of piety. 
By emotion is meant an involuntary excited state 
of mind, occasioned by some object or subject 
brought before it. Sometimes the emotion is 
pleasant, sometimes painful. The objects that 
awaken our emotions are much diversified. They 
may pertain solely to this world ; they may per- 
tain to eternity. There is nothing more adapted 
to excite emotion than religious truth. There is 



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 11 

much difference, however, in different individuals 
in this respect. The minds of some persons, by 
the contemplation of the word of God, and the 
fearful realities of the world to come, are wrought 
up to a high degree of feeling : others are excited 
but a very little. The minds of the two classes are 
different constitutionally : you might as well try 
to make their countenances look alike, as to make 
them feel alike. But involuntary feeling, or 
emotion, is not religion. Because a person has a 
great deal of it. it does not follow that he is a 
Christian, neither because he has but little, does it 
follow that he is not a Christian. Emotion is 
good in its place : it subserves a useful purpose by 
leading to a right course of voluntary mental 
action, and then it is the action which is virtuous, 
not the emotion. Very frequently emotion is not 
followed by virtuous action, and then it may be 
asked, what is it good for? 

Take an illustration : Two persons walk to- 
gether into a military hospital, crowded with the 
suffering and the dying. The spectacle produces 
in one, intense painful excitement, and he cannot 
bear the sight of. what is around him. and he pro- 
poses to his companion to retire. "Xo." says the 
other, whose feelings and nervous sensibilities are 
but little excited, "let us look about, perhaps we 
may find an opportunity to do some good here." 
At this moment a person is brought in with a 



12 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

limb shattered by a cannon-ball, and which must 
be amputated ; and the surgeon wishes one of 
these men to assist. One of them replies, "It 
pains me so much to see suffering that I cannot do 
it," and he makes for the door. The other indi- 
vidual instantly and cheerfully steps forward to 
hold the mangled limb, or catch the blood, or help 
tie the arteries, and in all ways to contribute as 
much as possible for the relief of the poor suf- 
ferer. Now which of these is the benevolent 
individual, — the one whose feelings were so much 
excited that he left the room, or he that remained 
calm and lent his assistance ? This illustration is 
designed to show that mere emotion, i. e., excited 
feeling, is no proof that a person is good or bad ; 
but it is voluntary exercise of the will that deter- 
mines the character. 

Now a person's feelings may be very much 
excited on the subject of religion ; his emotions 
may be extremely vivid and strong, and yet he 
may not be a Christian ; and, on the other hand, 
one may be almost destitute of emotion, and yet 
his will, or his heart, may be right in the sight of 
God. The question is not so much how does a 
man passively feel, as what is it his sincere, fixed, 
permanent purpose to do ? 

3. JVo sudden transition from a state of great 
distress and fear, to one of joy and hope, consti- 
tutes evidence of piety. Such a change, it is true, 



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 13 

does often accompany a real change of heart ; but 
not always. Some of the best Christians I ever 
knew, could never tell the moment, nor the hour, 
no, nor the day when light first began to dawn in 
the soul, any more than we can tell the precise 
moment when day begins to break in the east. 
While many sincere Christians have experienced 
no such sudden, conscious change from darkness 
to light, and from fear to joyful hope, there have 
been multitudes who have had this experience in 
a high degree, whose subsequent lives and 
deportment gave decisive evidence that it was all 
a delusion, and that they had no more religion 
than they had before. 

There is reason to fear that many regard this as 
their chief evidence that they have passed from 
death unto life ; viz., that at such a time, and place, 
they felt a great change in their feelings, — the 
burden was removed from their minds, and they 
felt happy; whereas, taken by itself, that is no 
evidence at ail, for it is an experience very com- 
mon both to true Christians and self-deceivers. 

4. It is no evidence of piety that a striking pas- 
sage of Scripture is accidentally or providentially 
brought before the mind, I have heard of per- 
sons indulging hope on as slight ground as this, — 
they opened their Bibles at random, and their eye 
first lighted on a passage like this : r Thy sins are 
forgiven thee ;" or f 'Be of good comfort ; rise, he 



14 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

calleth thee ; " and this was regarded as a special 
providence bidding them hope. Now to build a 
hope of eternal life on a foundation like this, is 
like attempting to lay the corner-stone of a house 
in mid air. One has just as much to support it 
as the other. Similar in character to this, is the 
practice of some of relying for evidence of their 
acceptance with God on dreams, and visions, and 
fancied supernatural voices. The piety of all 
such, if this is all the evidence they have, will be 
as evanescent as their dreams. Nor 

5. Does the good opinion which others may have 
formed of us, constitute evidence of our piety. 
There is no doubt but the Apostles had a good 
opinion of Judas until he betrayed his Master, and 
of Ananias and Sapphira until they lied to the 
Holy Ghost, and attempted to deceive God. And 
so they had of Simon Magus, until he proposed 
to purchase with money the power of communicat- 
ing the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands. 
It is comparatively an easy matter to deport our- 
selves so as to make a good impression on the 
minds of those who judge only by the external 
appearance. Others may think well of us, and 
express very strongly their confidence in our 
piety ; but there must be other grounds for us to 
believe that we are Christians than that others 
think we are. 

Again, it is no evidence that we are Christians 



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 15 

that we have had vivid and soul-inspiring concep- 
tions of the happiness of heaven. The descrip- 
tions we read in our Bibles of the glories of 
heaven, and the ideas we may obtain from the 
language of others on the subject, mav so work 
upon our imaginations, as almost to transport us 
to that world in fancy, and we seem, as it were, 
already to see the golden streets of the New 
Jerusalem, and hear the songs of the redeemed, 
and behold the crowns which we ourselves shall 
wear. Xow these conceptions of the heavenly 
state, so far as the material imagery is concerned, 
may be nothing but poetry, and probably are 
nothing but poetry in our minds, if the presence 
of God and holiness do not constitute in our esti- 
mation the chief ingredients of the glory and 
blessedness of that world where we hope to dwell. 
Nor, finally, is it any sure evidence that we are 
Christians, that ice have at times manifested con- 
siderable zeal in religion. Zeal is a good thing, 
and very desirable. I wish there was much more 
of it than there is. But there is a zeal in religion 
which is "not according to knowledge." and there 
is sometimes a zeal, not objectionable in itself, 
which is not based on evangelical experience. It 
has been by no means uncommon for the most 
zealous reformers — revivalists, and even revival 
preachers who in fiery zeal would distance all 
their brethren — to apostatize, and thus evince that 



16 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

their zeal was not for God's glory, but for them- 
selves, or for the denomination with which they 
were identified. 

I have thus specified at considerable length, a 
number of things which very often accompany 
true piety, and some of them nearly always, but 
which are distinct from piety itself, and are no 
certain criteria of it, and should not be relied on, 
as they sometimes are, as evidence that it exists. 
We will now consider, 

Secondly, in what genuine piety does consist. 
And I will endeavor to give a definition of it at 
once comprehensive and brief. True piety con- 
sists in a supreme love of God, implying a fixed, 
intelligent, voluntary, permanent choice of God as 
the supreme good or portion of the soul, and a 
choice of his service as the great end and object of 
life, and all for Ms glory. This is only a para- 
phrase of the language of our Saviour, in which 
he answers the same question : " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength ; that is the first commandment." 

We have here, in a few words, the sum and sub- 
stance of all true holiness, whether it be on earth, 
or in heaven, — a free, determined, permanent love 
and choice of God and his service. The great 
question, then, for each one of us to ask is, "Have I, 
under the enlightening and regenerating influences 



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 17 

of the Holy Spirit, made this choice ; ami living 
under the influence of this great purpose?" If 
you can settle this point, my friends, you can 
answer the question whether you are Christians 
or not. To assist you in this matter, I will men- 
tion a few things which are involved in this pur- 
pose, and inseparable from it. 

1. A renunciation of the world as your chief 
good. If you have chosen God as your portion, 
you must have given up the world. " Ye cannot 
serve God and Marumon." 

2. Repentance ; implying a sorrow for sin, and 
a forsaking of it. 

3. Faith in Christ ; a belief in his human and 
divine nature — in his power and willingness to 
save by his atoning blood, and a humble reliance 
upon it for pardon. 

4. A Christian life — a life of obedience — a 
life of prayer — a life of duty, — in short, a life of 
unreserved consecration to God, desiring to spend 
and be spent in his service. This is all implied in 
this great purpose which underlies everything 
pertaining to religion, and which constitutes the 
essence of true piety. 

This work of analyzing and scrutinizing your 
hopes should be continued as long as life lasts, 
and be oft repeated. 

You should have stated and regular seasons for 
self-examination as well as for prayer, at which 



18 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

the question should come up, not merely "What 
kind of a Christian am I?" but, "Am I a Christian 
at all ? " And you should not dispose of the matter 
in a brief, summary way, by asking a few questions. 
There is too much at stake here — salvation or 
misery, heaven or hell, will be the issue. And 
that you may arrive at a correct result, you must 
earnestly seek the aids of the Holy Spirit, for 
without his assistance it will be of no avail. Your 
deceitful heart, in concert with the adversary, 
will be likely to overpower your weak judgment, 
and cause you to think that you are something 
when you are nothing, unless God help you. 

Let me then urge you, my friends, — especially 
those of you who have recently, as you hope, 
espoused the cause of Christ, — to diligently and 
faithfully " examine yourselves whether ye be in 
the faith ; prove your own selves ; and give dili- 
gence to make your calling and election sure." 



DAXGEKS OF YOUXG CHRISTIANS. 19 



CHAPTER III. 
Dangers of Youxg Christians. 

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as 
a roaring lion, vralketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 
— 1 Pet. 5: 8. 

THE life of a .Christian has often been compared 
to a journey, or pilgrimage through an 
enemy's country, where the traveler will be con- 
tinually opposed, harassed, perplexed, and tempted, 
as he passes along. The comparison is a very apt 
one. Those who have tried the Christian life have 
found it so. This world is a revolted province of 
God's kingdom, and although it is not always to 
be thus, it is now, and has been since the apostasy, 
to a very great extent, in subjection to the "j^rince 
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh 
in the children of disobedience ;" — in other words, 
the devil. Through what he claims (though wrong- 
fully) as his domains, the Christian must pass on 
his way to Mount Zion. As might be expected 
of such an enemy, he will dispute every inch of 
ground in the pilgrim's pathway ; — will throw 
obstacles in his course ; — and will tempt him 
to turn aside from the straight and narrow road. 



20 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

Sometimes the adversary will flatter, and some- 
times threaten him, and will use a thousand meth- 
ods, no matter what, provided they answer his 
purpose, to hinder the Christian on his journey. 
Probably the adversary is never more busy than 
when he is tempting young converts. He dislikes 
to lose them from his ranks ; but if they will 
persist in their determination to forsake him, and 
go to heaven, he will use every artifice to render 
them as inefficient and useless Christians as pos- 
sible. 

There is ground, therefore, for comparing the 
Christian life to a journey through an enemy's 
country, beset on every side with difficulties and 
dangers. Perhaps, however, we sometimes lay 
too much at the door of Satan and his allies. We 
all have a principle of evil within ourselves, — evil 
hearts of sin and unbelief, — and we are often 
tempted, as the Apostle James says, when we are 
"drawn away of our own lusts, and enticed." 
Certain it is, that there is something in our hearts, 
but partially sanctified, to appeal to ; and unless we 
keep a strict watch over ourselves, we shall be 
sure to fall in with the designs of the adversary, 
and yield to his suggestions. How much of our 
danger, and how many of our temptations, proceed 
from the devil, and how many come from ourselves 
and other sources, it is impossible for us to say. 
It is of but little consequence to us from what 



DANGERS OF FOtJNG CHRISTIANS. 21 

source they corne. since they actually exist, and 
we have got to encounter them. 

I shall now proceed to point out some of the 
most prominent of these dangers, for the benefit 
of all those who are just setting out on their 
pilgrimage to heaven. 

Having had considerable experience in the world. 
and many opportunities of observation. I hope, my 
voune friends, that I mav be able to give you such 
instructions and warnings of the dangers and 
temptations which will be almost certain to assail 
you. as may enable you to guard against and re- 
sist them. It is an old but correct saying. " to be 
forewarned is to be forearmed." 

1. The first danger which I shall mention — 
and it is one of the first to which a young Chris- 
tian is exposed — is a feeling of security; i. e.. — 
an impression that there is no danger. When a 
person fully makes up his mind to serve God. and 
actually forms the great purpose to do so. and 
consecrates himself to him and his service, he 
generally feels strong ; he has committed himself. 
He enters upon his Christian life, and he finds it 
pleasant. The love of God is shed abroad in his 
soul, and it is sweet. He enjoys himself better 
than he ever did before. Go to him. and ask what 
he would sell his religion for. and go back to the 

service of sin. and become an enemv of God. 

t, » 

and he would answer. "Xot for ten thousand 



22 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

worlds ; " " Nothing shall ever separate me from 
the love of Christ." In the case of a real convert 
these feelings are sincere ; nothing can be more 
so. They are all very well. It is pleasant and 
very desirable to see them. Indeed, without 
them, there could be but little if any evidence of 
piety. Now the danger is, that the convert, in 
the ardor of his love, and in the pleasure he takes 
in looking away from earth to heaven, will feel 
that the battle is fought, the enemy vanquished, 
and the victory won. If it is suggested to him, 
" Perhaps by and by you may forsake Christ, yield 
to temptation, and again, partially at least, be- 
come a willing captive to Satan," he exclaims with 
Hazael, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do 
this thing?" It seems so unreasonable, and so 
sinful to depart from Christ, and serve the god of 
this world, that he thinks it impossible that he 
should ever do it. Now this is the very point of 
danger against which I wish to put you on your 
guard, — an overweening self-confidence that you 
are proof against temptation, and the assaults of 
the adversary. How confident Peter felt that he 
should not deny his Lord ! That confidence was, 
no doubt, the suggestion of Satan, and it was the 
occasion of his fall. Peter was forewarned too. 
Christ told him that Satan had laid a plot to catch 
him, and that he would be successful. Peter 
didn't believe it, and strongly asserted that he 



DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 23 

would be the last man in the world to deny his 
Master. And yet the poor man did it. 

Let me tell you, my dear friends, that one of 
the most common, and one of the most successful 
temptations of the adversary is, to persuade young 
converts that they are in no danger of being over- 
come ; and .when he has once made and confirmed 
that impression, he has more than half gained his 
purpose. 

2. A second danger to which the young convert 
will most assuredly be exposed is, temptation to 
an indolent, slothful spirit in regard to religious 
duties. Sometimes, when the Christian retires to 
pray, read his Bible, and meditate, a lethargic 
spirit will steal over him. Perhaps he has been 
making considerable bodily exertion, and is fa- 
tigued. His mind is somewhat inactive, his 
spirits flag, and he is tempted to hurry over his 
devotions, if not to omit them altogether. Bodily 
ease, or sloth, pleads, "It is only for once, and the 
lack of interest and engagedness to-day may be 
made up to-morrow by a little extra time or extra 
engagedness. " Beware how you yield to these 
pleadings of sloth. Depend upon it, this tempta- 
tion is a bucket of water thrown by Satan to 
quench the flamo of your piety. If you yield to 
it once, you will give him a decided advantage 
over you, and you will be almost certain to yield 
again; and every time you yield, you will grow 



24 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

worse and worse, until in a little while, this sloth- 
ful spirit will become habitual. Your closet will 
become a cold, uninteresting place, and you will 
be tempted to neglect it altogether. Let this 
spirit of indolence get the ascendency in the 
closet, and it will be certain to rule everywhere. 
It will lead you to read your Bible in a listless, 
careless manner, until by and by you will read 
it but seldom. It will keep you at home from the 
prayer-meeting, and from the house of God, if 
you happen to be a little tired ; and the duty of 
meditation and self-examination will be laid aside 
entirely. I repeat the caution, my friends : be- 
ware of an indolent, slothful spirit. Very often, 
and I may say generally, it is a stepping-stone to 
spiritual declension. If Peter had watched and 
prayed with Christ in the garden, instead of 
going to sleep, it is not probable he would have 
denied him. So, my young friends, if you will 
resist this indolent, stupid spirit, rouse up your 
sluggish minds, chide your cold hearts and say, 
" Get thee behind me, Satan," you will immediately 
find the flame of your love, which was flickering, 
and almost expiring in its socket, lighting up 
again into a bright and cheerful glow, and God 
will smile upon and bless you. 

3. A third danger to which the young Christian 
is exposed is icorldly-mindedness. The world is 
full of temptations. One of them is pleasure. 



DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 25 

There are pleasures both innocent and desirable : 
there are others which are evil and only evil. In 
tempting the young Christian, the adversary would 

not be likely to select those which are gross and 
groveling in their nature, but those which are 
innocent in themselves, becoming wrong only by 
excess, or by being enjoyed at improper times 
and places. You will be in much danger, my 
friends, from temptations to gratify the pleasures 
of taste. God has created us with susceptibilities 
to a high degree of enjoyment by beholding what 
is beautiful. And He has made a great many, 
and a great variety of beautiful things for us to 
look upon. Now the danger is, that in gratifying 
this principle of taste, you will be led, imper- 
ceptibly, to the exercise of the sinful passions of 
pride and vanity. The same taste which admires 
gay flowers, admires also gay clothing and costly 
ornaments : and here is where you may very easily, 
by excess, be betrayed into sin. 

The pleasures of sense constitute another 
wordly temptation of which you are in danger. 
These pleasures are all proper in their place, and 
when laid under suitable restraint : but nothing is 
more easy than to pass the boundary of innocence. 
The appetites may be enjoyed with moderation, 
if confined within the limits which God has pre- 
scribed for them. Taking: advantage of this 
appointment of Providence, the devil will tempt 



c 



26 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

you to intemperance in the use of what is lawful, 
or to gratify your appetites in an unlawful way. 

Avarice is another worldly temptation of which 
you are in danger. The accumulation of property 
by honest industry and frugality, with a proper 
end in view, is not forbidden — it is lawful; but 
"the love of money is the root of all evil." 
Avarice and covetousness God has ranked among 
the most hateful, soul-destroying sins. A tempt- 
ation to get rich, it is probable, is one of the 
strongest and most insinuating of any that will 
ever assail you. Commencing life with a laudable 
desire to earn an honest livelihood and to gain a 
moderate competence, unless you are on the 
watch, you will find yourselves, before you are 
aware of it, " making haste to be rich." Gold 
will become your idol, and you will be found wor- 
shipping at the shrine of Mammon. Worldliness 
in this form is one of the strongest, and one of 
the most common temptations that ever assails 
the Christian. Deluded by the belief that he is 
only providing things necessary for himself and 
his own household, before he suspects the real 
state of the case, the Christian is often making 
everything subservient to one object ; and that is, 
to gather up riches. He is lured from the pil- 
grim's path, and turns aside to visit the silver mine 
kept by Demas, from which there is but little 
hope of his return. He becomes so much en- 



DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 27 

gaged and absorbed with his w muck-rake," that he 
loses sight of the glorious crown which is shining 
over his head, and which might be his. Our Lord 
is very full and explicit in his instructions on the 
subject of worldliness : " The cares of this world, 
and the cleceitfulness of riches, choke the word 
and it becometh unfruitful." " How hardly shall 
they that have riches enter into the kingdom 
of God ! " " It is easier for a camel to go through 
the eye of a needle." Worldliness is the great sin 
of the Church. It always has been so ; it is so 
still. It does more to paralyze her energies, and 
bring her down in the dust, than all other things 
put together. Look at the great mass of profess- 
ing Christians at the present day ; what are they 
doing ? what are they thinking about ? what seems 
to interest them most ? It is obvious to any one 
that the great subject before the mind generally 
is making money ; and just in proportion as they 
are absorbed in this, farther than to " provide 
things honest in the sight of all men," do they 
neglect their duties to Christ and his cause. The 
devil knows perfectly well the power of worldly 
possessions to steal the affections and ensnare the 
soul. Hence he hoped to overcome the virtue of 
our Saviour by offering him this world as a 
present ; Achan he seduced by a " wedge of 
gold; " Judas, by "thirty pieces of silver; " and 
he has seduced many a professor of religion by a 



28 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

sum much less than that. In angling for men, he 
almost always baits his hook with a piece of silver. 
In most cases it answers his purpose ; though 
sometimes, in order to catch the cautious 
ones, he adds a piece of gold, and then he seldom 
fails of his game. You cannot, therefore, be too 
much on your guard against the love of money. 
It is one of the most formidable dangers you will 
have to encounter on your way to heaven, and 
one before which you will be the most likely to 
fall. 

4. Another danger to which the young convert 
is exposed, is bad example. TTe are creatures of 
imitation. Without being aware of it at the time, 
gradually and imperceptibly we become -con- 
formed, in some measure at least, to the habits of 
acting and thinking of those with whom we hold 
intercourse. "He that walketh with wise men 
shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be 
destroyed." Show me what company a man 
keeps, what examples are daily set before him, 
and I will tell you, without much danger of mis- 
take, what kind of a man he is. The character, 
and especially the character of youth, is very 
much influenced by its surroundings. This is 
remarkably true of the young Christian. If he is 
thrown into the society of those who are con- 
sistent, and devotedly pious, he will be likely to be 
assimilated to them . If he associates with worldly- 



DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 29 

minded, lukewarm professors, he, it is probable, 
will soon be like them. If he associates with the 
ungodly, selecting them as his companions and 
bosom friends, he will be so much under their influ- 
ence, that if he do not apostatize and lose his soul, 
he will come so near it that he will be "saved 
so as by fire." Now there are many more evil 
influences in the world than good ones. There 
are but very few whose example it would be safe 
in all respects to follow. The best of men say 
and do a great many foolish, not to say wicked 
things ; how much more, those Avhose standard of 
of piety is less elevated, and especially those who 
have no piety at all ! Here is a great source of 
danger to the young Christian. He is, in some 
respects, more in danger from the evil examples 
of good men than of the wicked ; for in one case 
he is generally on his guard, and in the other, he 
is not. It is very natural for him to feel that it is 
safe to follow the examples of his elder brethren, 
who have a good standing in the church ; but you 
should remember, my young friends, that it is not 
safe for you to follow implicitly anybody but 
Jesus Christ. You should always act with dis- 
crimination ; and when contemplating any course 
of conduct, your inquiry should always be, not, 
"Is it followed by this or that individual?" but, 
" Is it right ? Is this a course of conduct which 
the Saviour approves ? " If not, no matter who of 



30 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

your Christian friends pursue it, it should be 
avoided. 

5. Another danger to which a young Christian 
is exposed, is a temptation to swerve from a 
straightforward Christian course, for the sake 
of popularity. It is natural for us all to desire 
to please, and be held in high estimation by 
our fellow creatures. This desire, if held in 
check, and if, whenever exercised, it is guided 
and controlled by religious principle, is productive 
of good. It is not w^rong to " love the praise of 
men ; " but the wrong consists in loving the praise 
of men more than the praise of God. Occasions 
often occur in the life of the Christian when one 
must give way to the other. To go right forward 
in the discharge of duty, oppose what is wrong, 
and advocate and defend the right, is often the 
surest way to bring a man into discredit with a 
certain portion of the community whose good- 
will it is desirable to retain. To maintain his 
integrity without making any compromise of 
principle, requires, often, a severe struggle. If, in 
the course of your future lives, my young friends, 
you are ever placed in such circumstances, — and no 
doubt you will be, you may be certain that Satan, 
in concert with the remaining corruption of your 
own hearts, will make use of every artifice to 
overcome you. He will tell you what a dreadful 
thing it would be, to become unpopular with this 



DANGERS OF YOUXG CHRISTIANS. 31 

individual and that one, and lose your influ- 
ence ever them, or perhaps excite their enmity ! 
Then you will be tempted to relax, somewhat, the 
strictness of your principles ; and you will begin 
to question with yourselves in this way : w May it- 
not be that I have been a little too rigid in my 
views, — a little too puritanical? Should I not 
be more useful by lowering my standard some- 
what, and making a compromise, and yield a little 
of- what I have been in the habit of regarding 
Christian duty? Paul says he c became all things 
to all men,' — then why should not I?" forgetting 
that it was in respect to things indifferent, the 
Apostle said this. At this juncture, Satan will be 
likely to transform himself into the semblance of 
an angel of light, and tell you how much good 
you may do by retaining your popularity with the 
wicked. It will be well if, in this debate between 
your conscience and your old Adam, aided by the 
devil, you are not overcome by sophistry, and 
suffer your eyes to become so blinded that you 
will call light darkness and darkness light : and, 
for the sake of pleasing men, will displease God, 
and bring a reproach upon your profession. 

I have by no means, my young Christian 
friends, mentioned all the dangers to which you 
will be exposed in your heavenward pilgrimage : it 
is impossible to do so. I have specified some of 
the most prominent, and which you will be almost 
certain to encounter. 



32 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

I shall conclude this chapter by making a few 
suggestions, in view of these and other dangers 
and temptations to which you will be exposed. 

1. Be always on the lookout. You should be 
like a faithful sentinel, set at the outpost of a 
camp to watch the approach of the enemy. He 
does not relax his vigilance for a moment. 
Neither must you. Your enemy will approach 
you very slyly. He will not sound a trumpet 
before him, thus putting you on your guard ; but 
he will steal upon you as gradually and as silently 
as the shades of evening spread themselves over 
the landscape. Unless you are constantly on the 
watch, you will be ensnared by him before you 
know it ; and when you are once in his toils, he 
will be very careful how he lets you out. Bear in 
mind, as has already been suggested, that you are 
" passing through an enemy's country," and eter- 
nal vigilance only can insure your safety. At 
every crook and corner, at every cross-road, at 
every spot where he can conceal himself, he will 
lie in ambush ; from whence he will either let fly 
at you his fiery darts, or else he will come out 
with a smile, professing to be your friend, and 
propose to keep you company ; but as soon as he 
gets an opportunity, he will plunge a dagger into 
your bosom. 

2. Resolutely resist temptation at the very outset. 
If you begin to parley with it. you are already 



DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 33 

more than half overcome. The devil is not 
omnipotent, neither are his wiles. "Resist the 
devil and he will flee from you ; " but open your 
door and permit him to walk in, and then listen to, 
what he has to say, and ten chances to one, he will 
gain his point. By his "much fair speech he 
will cause you to yield ; and with the flattering of 
his lips," will, as it were, force you. It was because 
our mother Eve parleyed with the tempter, that 
she finally yielded and fell. If she had resisted 
him at the outset, and not lent her ear to his 
plausible reasoning, she had never plucked and ate 
the forbidden fruit, and thus brought "death into 
the world, and all our woe." 

The moment, therefore, my friends, that you see 
any temptation or spiritual danger, resist it at 
once. You cannot trifle with it, any more than 
you can trifle with a lion in his den, or with fire in 
a powder-house. You cannot walk upon hot coals 
without burning your feet. 

3. Look to God to help you. Here is your only 
source of strength. He will be a very present 
help in time of trouble and danger. Trust in Him, 
and no weapon formed against you shall prosper. 
If you trust to your own unaided strength to meet 
the dangers which threaten you, — to overcome the 
evil inclinations of your own hearts, — to resist the 
temptations of the world and the wiles and snares 
of the adversaiy, God will teach you your weak- 



34 pastok's counsels to young christians. 

ness, as he did Peter, by permitting you to fall. 
But put your trust in Him, put on the gospel 
armor which he has prepared for you, — take the 
sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, and the 
helmet of salvation, and you will be able to quench 
all the fiery darts of the wicked, and to come off 
victorious in the conflict. " Trust ye in the Lord 
forever ; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
strength." 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 35 



CHAPTER IV. 
Decision of Character; 

Be it known unto thee, king, that we will not serve thy 
gods, nor worship thy golden image which thou hast set up. 
—Dan. 3: IS. 

A LL my young friends have read the interest- 

-£j- ing history of three pious young men, who 
were once commanded by a wicked king to fall 
down and worship a senseless golden image ; and if 
they refused to do it, they should be thrown alive 
into a burning furnace of lire ! The reply of these 
young men to the king, I have taken as a motto 
for this chapter, because it is so perfect an illus- 
tration of the subject which I propose for your 
consideration, — decision of character. TThat a 
sublime spectacle is here presented to our view — 
three youths boldly standing up before the king, 
and telling him, that whatever the consequences 
might be to themselves, the}^ would never consent 
to do what they knew to be wrong. They were 
ready to die, if need be, the most horrible of all 
deaths ; but nothing could influence them to dis- 
honor God by worshipping that idol. Notice how 
boldly they speak before the haughty monarch. 



36 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

"We are not careful," say they, "to answer thee 
in this matter." Be it known unto thee, O king, 
that we shall not worship that image. Burn us 
in yonder furnace if you will, but we shall not 
do it. 

The history of these young men is not only 
extremely interesting in itself, but it is full of in- 
struction to all, and especially to the young. It 
illustrates the importance and beauty of decision 
of character. In their case it rises to sublimity. 

True decision of character is a rare quality. 
We read about it, we hear a great deal said 
about it ; but we seldom see it fully carried out 
in practice. Its importance, I think, is not duly 
estimated. It is desirable for every one, and for 
all situations in life ; but for none more than the 
young Christian. For the want of it, vast multi- 
tudes have been led away from the path of duty, — 
have yielded to evil influences, — brought them- 
selves into trouble, and religion into disrepute. I 
would therefore direct your special attention to it 
at this time. 

I shall in the first place explain what is meant 
by decision of character. 

Decision of character is a quality which leads 
its possessor to pursue , from fixed principle, a bold, 
steady, determined, persevering course to the ac- 
complishment of an important end. It is to be 
distinguished from several other things, which 
have gone by that name. 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 37 

Decision of character is to be distinguished 
from obstinacy. The two are very often con- 
founded. An obstinate man is a most unamiable 
and undesirable character. He makes up his mind 
that such or such a course is best, either for him- 
self or others, or such and such opinions are cor- 
rect ; and whether right or wrong, it is impossible 
to adduce any arguments, however sound and 
logical, that will have the least influence upon 
him whatever. He knows that he is right, and 
everybody else must be wrong who does not 
agree with him. No matter how much light you 
pour into his mind, or bring before it ; it is all 
darkness to him. It is of no use to argue with 
him, — his mind is not open to conviction, and he 
is determined it shall not be. He would not 
yield to proof equivalent to a mathematical dem- 
onstration : 

" A man convinced against his will 
Is of the same opinion still." 

And the reason is, he has not come to his conclu- 
sions, and adopted his course, from a calm and 
candid process of reasoning ; but from prejudice, 
or, more frequently, from a sort of disdain he has 
of thinking and acting like other people. Such 
a man generally prides himself on his independ- 
ence, and great "decision of character." Poor, 
self-deluded, creature ! His fancied " decision of 



38 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 

character" is nothing but sheer obstinacy, — a 
quality that deserves and receives the contempt, 
rather than the respect of mankind. A man 
ought always to keep his mind open to conviction. 
His opinions, or the course of conduct he has 
marked out for himself, may possibly be wrong, 
and if so, he ought to be willing to be convinced 
of it. For a person to adhere to a course, perti- 
naciously, for no assignable reason but because 
he is determined to have his own way, is the mark 
of a weak mind rather than of a great one. 

Decision of character should be distinguished 
also from pride of consistency. The ancient 
Medes and Persians would not alter or change 
their laws, for that would imply, as they sup- 
posed, weakness and inconsistency. The rulers 
themselves would contrive various methods to 
have their own enactments evaded or nullified. 
Ahasuerus issued a decree that on a given day all 
the Jews in his domains should be destroyed ; 
but when, a little time after, he saw the folly and 
injustice of that decree, he did not repeal it, — he 
had too much pride to do that, — but he took spe- 
cial pains that it should be evaded, by arming the 
Jews, and bidding them stand on the defensive. 
Nebuchadnezzar enacted several laws that he was 
sorry for; but he would not repeal nor relax 
them, because that would imply that he had been 
injudicious, and would represent him as inconsis- 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 39 

tent with himself. The same principle is often 
illustrated in the case of editors of newspapers. 
Having said a thing, some editors will stick to 
it. right or wrong. It should be remembered that 
persistency in any course does not necessarily 
imply firmness, or great decision of character. 

A man of true decision of character is one who 
calmly, deliberately, and faithfully examines a 
subject or a course of conduct, for the purpose of 
learning what is truth, and what is duty: and 
having made up his mind what is right, he inflex- 
ibly conforms his life to his principles. When he 
commences a course, he adheres to it. and prose- 
cutes it so long as he conscientiously believes it to 
be duty, without regard to fear or favor. Duty, 
not impulse, or self-will, or pride of consistency, 
is the corner-stone of his inflexibility. He does 
not consider himself infallible. His mind is open 
to conviction. He is willing to receive light from 
any source, and if he is convinced that he is 
wrong, he has independence to say so, and in- 
stantly change his course, right in face of a frown- 
ing world if need be. It sometimes requires more 
decision and firmness of character to change a 
course of action, than it does to pursue it. He is 
willing to change, if duty requires it. but not with- 
out. He is not " carried about with every wind of 
doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning crafti- 
ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ! " You 



40 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

cannot persuade him to act inconsistently with his 
convictions of duty. He is not intimidated by 
popular opinion. The opinion of the world has 
no more influence upon him, in changing his 
course, than it has upon the wind, so long as he 
conscientiously believes he is in the way God would 
have him go. It makes no difference who tempts 
him, or what motives are laid before him to 
swerve from what he believes to be right. He 
replies, "I do not wish to offend you, or appear 
obstinate ; but if you wish to dissuade me from 
duty, or lead me to do wrong, I am not careful to 
answer you in this matter ; be it known unto 
you, and to all the world, that I cannot do vio- 
lence to my conscience, and disobey God. The 
world may laugh, and the world may frown, but 
it will make no difference. I believe I ought to 
do thus and so ; and thus I shall do. I have 
planted my foot, and I shan't take it up again till 
I am convinced that it is wrong ; and then I will 
change." 

This is true decision of character ; — a consis- 
tent adherence to fixed principles, based upon a 
faithful examination of truth. 

I shall now, 

Secondly, Consider the importance of this trait 
of character, both as it relates to the common 
affairs of life, and to religion. 

So far as our intercourse with mankind is con- 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 41 

cerned, it is much the easiest way of getting 
through the world for a man to have a mind of his 
own. There are in society nearly as many dif- 
ferent opinions on some subjects, as there are 
individuals. To attempt to please all, is a certain' 
way to please nobody. To mark out a course 
that shall be universally popular, is as impossible 
as it would be to create a new world. A man, to 
get along in society comfortably to himself, must 
have a good degree of independence. In small 
matters, where no point of duty is involved, he 
ought, doubtless, often to yield his own taste and 
preference to others ; but in no case ought he to 
surrender an important principle. If he does, he 
may be certain of getting himself into difficulty. 
If he does it once, he will have to do it again, and 
there will be no stopping-place. In the common 
affairs of life, how much easier it is for a man to 
get along who has some decision, or independence 
of character. A person who has none, will always 
be the sport of designing men : he will never 
know what to do. One man will tell him to do 
this, another will advise to a different course, and 
a third to a different still. His mind is constantly 
in a state of doubt. Sometimes he is inclined to 
go this way, and sometimes that ; and there are 
not wanting those who will take advantage of this 
vacillating state of mind to increase his per- 
plexity, by making to him suggestions, and giving 



42 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

him advice, which he has not strength of purpose 
or independence sufficient either to follow or 
reject ; and he becomes like " a wave of the sea, 
driven of the wind and tossed." 

But a man who learns to think for himself, and 
act for himself, avoids all this difficulty. The 
world will very soon learn a man's character, and 
will deal with him accordingly. If he is ' ? unsta- 
ble as water," they will always be troubling him ; 
but if he has a mind of his own, and is governed 
by principle, they will soon find it out, and will 
keep at a respectful distance, and will not expect 
to influence him without good and substantial 
reasons. 

It is not only the easiest, but it is the most 
honorable way of getting through the world, to be 
independent and decided. A man who has no 
decision of character will find it impossible to be 
consistent with himself, and to keep all his en- 
gagements. In his intercourse with mankind, he 
will often come in contact with persons of directly 
opposite opinions and practices. 

Now, unless he has character and resolution to 
think for himself, he will be likely to fall in with 
both parties. In what a ridiculous and unworthy 
aspect he presents himself! Here he is, agreeing 
with one man to-day, with another of very differ- 
ent views to-morrow, and with a third the next 
day, different from both, perhaps ; and very likely 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. <±3 

with each he has committed himself to some 
opinion or course of action, 

Now, there is much that is dishonorable in such 
indiscriminate coincidence with everybody, what- 
ever may be the subjects agitated, whether poli- 
tics, property, law, or religion. You never know 
where to find such a man, for this plain reason. — 
he is nowhere to be found. The only honorable 
course for a person to take in his intercourse with 
men in this world, is to have established princi- 
ples, and let them be known, and to abide by them 
both in conversation and practice. 

It is also the safest way. A man who has no 
decision is always liable to get into difficulty. 
Without designing it, he will be likely to become 
involved in a labyrinth of contradictions. He is 
inconsistent with himself: and although he does 
not notice it, others will. They will place the 
opinions he expressed yesterday, and those he 
expresses in different company to-day, side by 
side : and it will appear that they are wholly irre- 
concilable. He is thus in danger of losing his 
reputation, not only for sound judgment, but for 
veracity. Many a man who designed to be 
truthful and honest, has nearly or quite lost his 
reputation for integrity for the want of a little 
decision of character. By endeavoring to become 
K all things to all men." he has become nothing to 
anybody : and all confidence in him is lost. This 



44 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

is a dangerous ^quarrelsome, fault-fin ding world ; 
and if a man would steer safely through it, he 
must go straight forward. 

Again, to be decided in our opinions, plans, and 
course of conduct, is the way to secure success in 
our undertakings. A man of decision of character 
will not be likely to engage in anything of impor- 
tance without first having made it a subject of 
deliberation, and submitted it to the dictates of a 
cool judgment. Having once settled it in his 
mind that a particular course is expedient, he 
goes forward with an inflexibility of purpose to 
accomplish something, uninfluenced by the opin- 
ions or dictation of weak or designing men ; and 
generally he succeeds. 

But decision of character is of the greatest 
importance when taken in connection with the 
subject of religion. If a man cannot get along 
comfortably in the affairs of this world without it, 
he certainly cannot in what pertains to another. 
In the first place, no person can become a Christian 
without it to some extent. Religion consists in 
renouncing the world, and taking a consistent, 
decided stand for God and the truth. How can a 
person do this without decision of character? 
There are often more obstacles in the way of 
becoming a Christian, than in doing anything else 
whatever. There is not unfrequently opposition 
to stem, ridicule to encounter, reproach to endure, 



DECISION OF CHAKACTER. 45 

temptation to resist ; and unless a person has a 
good degree of independence and decision, these 
difficulties will never be overcome, but will forever 
separate between him and heaven. 

In the second place, without decision of char- 
acter a person can never grow in grace after he 
becomes a Christian. The difficulties which he 
has to encounter when he commences the Christian 
course, will, some of them at least, attend him 
through life. The battle is not fought when a 
person first enlists in the Lord's army. There is 
usually a little skirmishing to begin with ; but 
generally the heat of the contest is not till some- 
time afterward. To be good soldiers of the Lord 
Jesus, my friends, you must be decided, resolute, 
and persevering. There is to be no wavering, no 
timidity, no shrinking back ; but you must march 
right up to the enemy, face to face, and let him 
understand that you are prepared to die rather 
than to desert your post, or yield him one inch of 
ground. Instead of yielding, you must be deter- 
mined to go forward. You are to set your faces 
as a flint against every temptation to wrong, and 
go onward in the divine life, and become more 
holy every day, growing in grace and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 
One great reason why Christians do not grow in 
grace more than they do, is, they have not suffi- 
cient decision of character to say no, and to stick 
to it, whenever tempted to sin. 



46 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

Once more, decision of character is necessary 
for all who would be instrumental in advancing 
the cause of Christ in the world. A decided 
man, and especially one who is decided in religion, 
makes a deep impression on the community. The 
world is led to conclude that there is a reality in 
religion, or he would not adhere to it so pertina- 
ciously, nor take so bold a stand in its defence 
and advancement. It is probable that Shadrach, 
Meshach, and Abednego did more for the honor 
of God and the cause of piety, by their firmness 
and decision, when their religious principles were 
put to the test before Nebuchadnezzar and his 
princes and subjects, when required to worship 
the golden image, than they did during the rest of 
their lives. Had they yielded, and fallen only 
once before the idol, they would have given 
decisive evidence that they did not fear their God 
as much as they did the face of man ; and what 
would those idolaters then have thought of their 
religion? It is just so now. My friends, if you 
would have the world think anything of the 
religion of Christ, you must show them that 
you place a high value upon it yourselves, by tak- 
ing a bold, decided stand for its defence and 
advancement in all circumstances whatsoever. 
Be decided in your principles , and let the devotees 
of the world know what your principles are. 
Don't be ashamed to let them know that you and 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 47 

they worship different gods. Be decided in your 
practice. Carry out your principles. Principles 
without practice only excite contempt : they are 
worse than good for nothing. Don't be deterred 
from taking a decided, straightforward course for 
fear the world will laugh at you, and charge you 
with bigotry, Puritanism, and all that. You may 
be sure that the world will laugh at you behind 
your backs if you do not do it, and charge you 
with weakness and hypocrisy. By bowing down 
to the world's idols, you may for a moment gain 
their smiles and flatteries ; but in their hearts they 
will despise you for it, and pour contempt upon 
your religion. 

If, therefore, my young Christian friends, you 
would pursue the easiest, safest, and most success- 
ful course through this world ; if you would make 
any advances in the divine life, and recommend re- 
ligion to the world, I would earnestly advise you 
to two things, — first, adopt right principles; 
secondly, stick to them. 



48 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTER V. 
Social Intercourse. 

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man shonld 
be alone. — Gen. 2 : 13. 

THESE words were spoken in relation to Adam 
in Paradise. They have generally been inter- 
preted to mean that it w^as not good for Adam — 
including also all mankind — to live single, or in 
an unmarried state. This was certainly true in 
regard to Adam, and it is doubtless true of man- 
kind generally. But this interpretation does not 
express the full meaning of the passage. The 
words imply a great deal more. They refer to 
the social nature of man. He was made for 
society, — not conjugal society merely, but for 
social intercourse with either or both sexes. It 
is a part of man's constitution that he should 
associate with his species. Seclusion and soli- 
tude are unnatural, and as injurious as they 
are unnatural. The mind of man is so con- 
stituted that it must have society, or it would 
lose the balance of its powers, and become, to a 
greater or less extent, deranged. Those relig- 



SOCIAL IXTEECOUKSE. 49 

ionists. therefore, who think to serve God by 
shutting themselves up away from the world, 
in monasteries, nunneries, and lonely cells, have 
mistaken both the word of God., and the consti- 
tution of the mind. This principle of sociability 
has its origin in God himsdf. He exists in three 
persons, or in three distinctions, the nature of 
which has never been revealed to us. and has 
thus existed from eternity. God was not with- 
out society previous to his creation of angels 
and other intelligent being?. The Trinity — a 
very proper term to designate this mysterious. 
incomprehensible union — are represented as hold- 
ing converse, and consulting with each other in 
regard to the creation and disposal of man. The 
principle of sociability pervades all animated 
nature. We see it among the lower, as well as 
the higher orders of creation. — in birds, beasts, 
and fishes, as well as in intelligent beings. Xa- 
ture. therefore, as well as the word of God, 
teaches us. that it is not good for mankind to 
live without society. Persons are often thrown 
together necessarily in the way of business : 
but something more than this is demanded by 
the social principle. We need to meet together 
for the interchange of thought, and for stimu- 
lating each other's minds by conversation. This 
natural tendency of persons to associate with each 
other, should not be frowned upon, and con- 



50 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

demned, but encouraged. There is great advan- 
tage to be derived from social intercourse ; not 
only between persons of the same sex, but — 
under proper regulations and restrictions — be- 
tween the different sexes. Such intercourse ever 
has characterized, and ever will characterize refined 
Christian society. To interdict it, would be to 
take a long step toward barbarism. Social inter- 
course should be regarded in the light of Christian 
duty, to be regulated by Christian principle like 
all other duties. It may be turned to very great 
advantage, and made highly conducive to our hap- 
piness and usefulness ; and on the other hand, it 
may be so abused as to be productive of the great- 
est evils. 

In addressing my young friends on this subject, 
I shall 

First, Speak briefly of some of the benefits of 
social intercourse ; and 

Secondly, Give some directions by which it 
should be conducted. 

Among the benefits of social intercourse, I 
would mention, first, enjoyment. Although this 
is by no means the most important object we 
should have in view when friends and neighbors 
meet, yet it is generally the first impelling motive 
to bring them together. There is a high degree 
of pleasure derived from conversing and associat- 
ing with those whom we esteem and love. This 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 51 

happiness is generally the greatest when we have 
intercourse with our nearest kindred. Providence 
has wisely so ordered it, that generally we love 
our nearest relations best, and take the most inter- 
est in their society. But there are always others, 
in every civilized community, whose society affords 
us much enjoyment, and we are attracted to them 
by a sort of instinct. We all know how pleasant 
it is amid the labors, the anxieties, and perplexi- 
ties of life, to unbend the mind by intelligent con- 
versation with our neighbors and friends. We 
feel our spirits enlivened, and the world, which 
was beginning to look gloomy, is again lighted up 
by a ray of sunshine. This is a rational kind of 
happiness, and one it is the good pleasure of God 
we should enjoy. 

Secondly. Another benefit of social intercourse 
is, it refines the manners. To be rough, awkward, 
coarse, and vulgar in our deportment, may not be 
sinful, yet it comes pretty near it, for it impairs 
our influence in society. Influence is one of the 
talents with which God has intrusted us, and we 
are bound to use it to the best advantage. We 
have no right to throw it away, nor unnecessarily 
diminish it. On the other hand, we ought by all 
lawful and honorable means to increase it, that we 
may use it as an instrument in promoting the 
greatest good of society. I need not say that, 
other things being equal, persons of cultivated 



52 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

tastes and manners, exert a greater influence over 
their fellow-men than those who are destitute of 
refinement, — clownish and coarse. If, therefore, 
attention to this matter will enable us to do more 
good, then it becomes a duty, and ^attention 
to it, to say the least, conies pretty near being 
sinful. But, at any rate, a certain degree of 
refinement and attention to the forms of polite- 
ness observed by well-bred, intelligent society, is 
certainly very desirable, whether it be regarded 
in the light of a duty or not, and is not unworthy 
the regard of any Christian. 

Now there is nothing more directly adapted to 
grind off the roughness of the externals of a per- 
son's character and appearance than social inter- 
course. Without society, mankind would grow 
up much like the wild beasts. A hermit can 
never be a gentleman. He may have within him- 
self all the elements of one, but he needs inter- 
course with his fellow-men to develop what he is 
capable of becoming. The diamond, as it is found 
in nature, is an ill-shapen, uninteresting pebble ; 
you can't grind it, you can't file it, you can't 
shape it by any tool that was ever made. You 
can develop its beauties, shape and polish it only 
by bringing it in contact with other diamonds. It 
takes a diamond to cut a diamond. 

So mankind are by nature rude and coarse, and 
whatever elements there may be in them of refine- 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 06 

merit, nothing will ever develop these elements but 
coming in contact with others, and holding inter- 
course with their own species. 

Thirdly. Social intercourse is useful because it- 
excites in mankind a mutual interest in each other. 
No community can be happy and prosperous where 
every individual is bound up in self. A man who 
says, "I care for nobody, and desire to have no- 
body care for me/' is a pitiable and despicable 
being. TTere all mankind such, friendship and 
love would be banished from the world. God 
made us to care for one another, and not for our- 
selves alone. Who would like to live in a com- 
munity where neighbors felt no interest in each 
other any farther than they could turn their inter- 
course to some selfish advantage ? And yet there 
are such neighborhoods ; but very certain I am 
they are not where the inhabitants are in the 
habit of frequently meeting together for friendly 
conversation. 

Fourthly. Social intercourse tends to enlarge 
and improve the mind. Our minds are like a 
cutting instrument — sometimes they get dull 
and rusty. They need rubbing up and sharp- 
ening, and nothing will do this more effectually 
than attrition with other minds. If you rub two 
rusty and dull knives together, they act recipro- 
cally ; they brighten and sharpen each other. 
So will two minds when brought in contact. By 



54 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

an interchange of opinions and feelings, by ask- 
ing questions and making suggestions and com- 
municating information, they stimulate each other 
and draw each other out, and mutually add to 
their stock of knowledge. Thus is the mind 
enlarged, its views are expanded, and its latent 
powers developed. 

And Finally, social intercourse tends to im- 
prove the heart. When it is conducted as it 
ought to be, it softens down the asperities of our 
nature, it awakens sympathy for our species, and 
calls forth all our kindly feelings. It is adapted 
to make a person an obliging neighbor, a kind 
friend, and a more benevolent Christian. There 
is hardly anything better adapted to awaken and 
keep alive Christian feeling among the disciples 
of Christ than a frequent and free interchange of 
thought, especially on the subject of religion. 
The social principle was well understood by 
saints in ancient times. We read of their 
often being together, " stirring up one another's 
pure minds." "They who feared the Lord spake 
often one to another." Thus it always has been, 
and thus it always will be. The hearts of Chris- 
tians are like coals of fire ; — separate them, they 
will burn very feebly or go out ; bring them 
together, and they will kindle up into a brighter 
and more fervid glow. 

Having spoken of some of the benefits of social 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 55 

intercourse when properly conducted, I shall now 
proceed to give directions for its regulation. The 
first thing demanding attention in order that 
social intercourse may be profitable is, the choice 
of associates. It is difficult to realize how much 
is depending upon this particular. "He that 
walketh with wise men shall be wise ; but a com- 
panion of fools shall be destroyed." In selecting 
your companions, my young friends, you must use 
a great deal of discrimination. Your most intimate 
friends should be those who can sympathize with 
you in your religious views and feelings. One of 
Satan's most successful devices for hindering 
young Christians in their race is, to get them 
under the influence of thoughtless, worldly com- 
panions. If you associate familiarly with any 
who are not Christians , as doubtless you often 
will, let it be with those, and those only, who 
treat religion and its ordinances with respect. If 
any one courts your society who makes light of 
serious things, who speaks lightly of revivals, who 
ridicules the anxious sinner, who profanes the 
Sabbath and its ordinances, or the name of God, 
let me say to you, as you value your soul, and as 
you love the cause of Christ, have nothing to do 
with such a person as a companion. Xo sooner 
admit him to j^our confidence, or place his name 
on the list of your chosen friends, than you would 
press a rattlesnake to your bosom. Shun his 



56 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

society as you would the pestilence. Choose your 
select companions from those who fear the Lord 
and walk in his ways, and if you associate with 
others, let it be with those who are correct in 
principle, and who respect you none the less, but 
rather more, because you are a Christian, and 
who will never wound your feelings by speaking 
lightly of, or in any way treating with disrespect, 
your best friend, — the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Having carefully selected your society, let your 
social intercourse with your friends, whether it is 
in private, or in the social circle, be such as be- 
comes intelligent, well-bred Christians. In the 
first place, let it be decorous, whether you are in 
company with persons of your own or the other sex. 
When i say it should be decorous, I mean it should 
be opposed to anything like vulgarity, either in lan- 
guage or manner. Vulgarity is always inexcusa- 
ble. It is a shame and a disgrace to anybody, 
but especially to a Christian. Persons who have 
not been much in society, are excusable for a cer- 
tain degree of awkwardness and rusticity of man- 
ner ; but they are not excusable for being vulgar. 
In social intercourse there should be no rudeness 
of manner or address ; no calling of nicknames ; 
no foolish jesting ; no loud and boisterous talking 
or laughing, though it is not by any means wrong 
to laugh if you laugh respectably ; no telling 
indecent or foolish stories ; no gossip ; and espe- 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 57 

cially no backbiting. All these things betray a 
vulgar mind, unworthy of a gentleman or a lady, 
and much less a Christian. 

In the second place, social intercourse should be 
characterized by politeness. By politeness I do 
not mean those forms of etiquette, that punctili- 
ousness of manner and ceremony, which a certain 
portion of the gay w^orld assume, and which is 
taught in Parisian dancing-schools, by any means ; 
but I mean a sincere, kind, and respectful treat- 
ment of one another ; a tender regard to each 
other's wishes ; a willingness to waive your own 
pleasure and convenience for the sake of promoting 
that of others ; a self-sacrificing spirit ; the avoid- 
ance of everything in conversation or action that 
can give unnecessary pain. True politeness does 
not consist so much in polish of manner as it does 
in kindness of manner. A good definition of it 
is, "true benevolence carried out in little things," 
in our intercourse with mankind. Some persons 
seem to think that it is necessary for them to be 
polite only to their superiors, or those with whom 
they are not on terms of intimacy. When among 
their equals, and especially those whom they meet 
every day, they seem to think that they can speak 
to them roughly and treat them rudely, and do 
and say a thousand things which they would be 
ashamed of in company where they were less 
familiar. But politeness, — I don't mean stiff for- 



58 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

mality — should be shown to everybody ; not 
only to our superiors, but also to our equals and 
inferiors. It is a Christian duty. It should be 
observed between brothers and sisters in the 
family ; it should be observed between play- 
mates ; it should be observed in all our social in- 
tercourse at home and abroad ; between those who 
are our nearest and most intimate friends, as well 
as any others. It was a direction of the apostle, 
"be courteous," which means the same thing as, be 
polite. And he set the example. 

In the third place, let your social intercourse 
be improving. It should improve the mind and 
the heart. When persons meet together in a 
social way, the object should not be merely to 
w T hile away a passing hour. That is wasting time, 
and time is too precious to waste. You had 
better, a great deal, throw your gold and silver 
into the ocean, and your bank-notes into the fire, 
than to throw away your time. I have said that 
enjoyment is one of the benefits of social inter- 
course ; but even enjoyment is not best promoted 
by unmeaning, vain, light, and profitless talk ; 
on the contrary, the more improving we make 
our intercourse with each other, the greater the 
pleasure it will afford. When you meet, my 
young friends, whether in the social circle or in a 
more private way, your conversation should not 
be all commonplace ; but let it be ever your aim 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 59 

to say or to hear something useful. Talk about 
the last book you have read, — for I trust you all 
make it a point to have a useful book on hand, 
and to read something in it every day ; men- 
tion any new fact in science, or in the arts, that 
may have come to your knowledge through the 
newspapers, or otherwise. Without entering into 
the arena of partisan politics, it would be well for 
you to notice and speak of the civil and political 
movements of the world, foreign nations as well 
as our own. Analyze and discuss the characters 
of leading public men, both of ancient and mod- 
ern times : read and make yourselves familiar 
with the constitution of your State and of your 
country, so that when you talk of matters of a 
public nature, you may talk instructively and in- 
telligently. Be in the habit of asking each other 
questions on subjects of importance. If persons 
would pursue some such course as this, and try to 
turn their conversation to good account, instead 
of talking about the fashions and frivolities of the 
day, they would in a little time be astonished at 
their own mental improvement, and at the amount 
of useful information they had acquired. 

But your social intercourse should aim to the 
improvement of the heart as well as the intellect. 
"When you meet, my young friends, you should 
endeavor to make each other better as well as 
wiser. There is much danger that j^our conversa- 



60 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

tion in your intercourse will be too exclusively on 
subjects pertaining to this world. Religion is 
among Christians quite too often thrust into the 
background, as appropriate only to the Sabbath, 
or the social prayer-meeting ; whereas, in every 
social gathering, as well as in private conversa- 
tion, it should have its due place. I do not mean 
that it is expedient, or proper, to rudely interrupt 
general conversation by thrusting in the subject 
of religion without regard to persons, time, and 
circumstances. Such a course will disgust those 
you wish to benefit. But watch your opportu- 
nity, and if your heart is in the work, you will 
nearly always find a place where a few words may 
be spoken on the subject of religion, which would 
be edifying to Christians, and would not appear 
rude to worldly minds, while it would benefit 
your own soul. It keeps the heart warm to 
speak about Christ and his salvation. Always be 
ready, therefore, to introduce the subject of re- 
ligion as a theme of remark in your intercourse 
with each other. If you are sincere Christians, 
you are fellow-pilgrims to the heavenly country. 
What can be more natural, or more proper, than 
that you should converse with each other freely 
about the land whither you are going, and the 
road that conducts to it ? It is always interesting 
to the Christian to hear about the progress of 
Christ's kingdom. You should always, when you 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 61 

meet a Christian friend, be ready to communicate 
to him or to her, any interesting intelligence you 
may have received in regard to the great moral 
and religious movements of the day. Talk about 
the missionary enterprise ; and that you may 
communicate as well as receive valuable informa- 
tion, make yourselves familiar with the efforts 
that have been made, and that are being made, 
to convert the world to Christ. This is an enter- 
prise of far greater interest and importance than 
the spanning of the Atlantic with the telegraph- 
wire, or constructing a ship-canal across the Isth- 
mus, or tunneling the Hudson, and should make 
every Christian's heart thrill with a holy pleasure. 
Talk about revivals, their progress, and the means 
of their promotion. Talk about the Sabbath 
school, the Bible, and other religious books. Talk 
about experimental religion, — not theoretically, 
merely, but practically. Tell how you have felt 
and how you feel now. Call out the feelings of 
your brethren. Often compare your Christian 
experiences. Acquaint each other with your 
Christian joys and sorrows, your hopes and fears, 
your spiritual conflicts, your victories and defeats. 
By such kind of conversation you may be assured 
the heart will be made better : it will be kept 
from being absorbed by worldliness ; its sympa- 
thies and heavenly aspirations will be kept alive ; 
and you will very much encourage and strengthen 



62 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

each other in your journey heavenward ; and you 
will enjoy it. 

The particular design of this chapter, thus far, 
has been to discuss the subject of social inter- 
course, when you come together for the sake of 
society, and not -for religious worship. The social 
prayer-meeting is altogether distinct ; and with a 
few remarks on this subject I shall close. 

When you meet together for prayer, my young 
friends, you should feel, and should deport your- 
selves, very different in many respects, from what 
would be perfectly proper in a visiting circle. 
While the social principle operates to render the 
prayer-meeting more interesting, the design of 
coming together is not to enjoy intercourse with 
one another as friends, but to hold fellowship with 
God, and to offer unto him united prayer and 
praise. On these solemn and interesting occa- 
sions, which you ought by all means to attend, 
your thoughts should not be fixed on secular 
matters, or on each other, but on God. Call 
home your wandering imaginations, and feel that 
your special business is with your Maker. You may 
indeed speak to each other " in psalms, and hymns, 
and spiritual songs ; " and " exhort one another," 
and "stir up one another's pure minds by way 
of remembrance ; " but all with one great object 
in view, and that should be, the devout, spiritual 
worship of Jehovah. In going to and from the 



SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 63 

social prayer-meeting, your conversation and de- 
portment should be characterized by sobriety, and 
be not at all discordant *with the object for which 
you assemble. Think how you would feel, and 
what you would say to each other, were you going 
to meet the Saviour in his bodily presence, and 
have personal conversation with him, face to face ; 
and also, what would be the tenor of your con- 
versation after such an interview. 

Finally, my young friends, let all your inter- 
course with each other, in all times and places, be 
such as shall prepare you for eternal fellowship in 
heaven. I hope that your intercourse, commenced 
on earth, will be perpetuated forever in the world 
of glory. The social principle exists there in all 
its perfection, and serves to enhance the blessed- 
ness of the righteous. While passing along 
together here, see that you do not hinder each 
other on the way ; but, on the contrary, strive to 
help each other onward ; and let your social and 
Christian intercourse during your pilgrimage be 
such as shall afford you a theme of delightful 
reminiscence to all eternity. 



64 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTEE VI. 
Formation of Habits. 

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? 
Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. — 
Jer. 13 : 23. 

Train up a child in the way he should go ; and when he is 
old, he will not depart from it. — Prov. 22 : 6. 

THESE two passages of scripture are suggest- 
ive of several important truths worthy of 
our attention, and among them may be mentioned 
the power of habit. A person who has long 
accustomed himself to an evil course of conduct, 
has acquired a habit of sinning which has become 
inveterate ; and it is almost as easy for an Ethi- 
opian to change his skin or a leopard his spots, 
as for him to stop sinning and become a virtuous 
man. And so, on the other hand, if in early life 
he is trained up in the path of virtue, he will 
acquire a habit of right doing which will attach to 
him down to old a°:e, or as lon£ as he lives. 

We hence learn the immense importance of the 
formation of right habits. We know what habit 
is, from observation and experience. Habit is a 
state of the mind, or body, which tends to the repeti- 



FORMATION OF HABIT?. 65 

lion, involuntarily, of the same bodily or mental act. 
It is the result of custom. It differs from custom in 
this respect. Custom is the repetition of an act by 
particular design ; habit is the result of that cus- 
tom : that is. the act, inconsequence gf being often 
repeated, at length comes to be performed without 
'any calculation or immediate forethought : and 
the force of habit sometimes becomes so strong, 
that the act is performed without knowing it. 
This is illustrated in the case of the profane 
swearer. The boy. or the young man. especially 
he who has been religiously or morally educated, 
takes his first oath with deliberation and consider- 
able hesitancy. He knows what he is doing, and 
it requires a struggle to break through the barriers 
which education and parental influence had thrown 
around him. to utter an oath. But he does it. and 
having done it once, he does it a second time with 
fewer misgivings .; but still, it requires an effort 
for him to swear. By persevering, however, cus- 
tom makes it easier for him to break the third 
commandment : till at length he does it without 
thinking of it. and then he has formed the 
habit. 

The intemperate man goes through a similar 
process, till at length he finds himself going to his 
bottle as it were involuntarily. His habit gets the 
control of him. and usurps the place of reason. 

All men have their habits. Dr. Paley says, 



66 PASTOR'S COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 

w Man is a bundle of habits." We have our habits 
of eating, our habits of sleeping, our habits of 
speaking, our habits of thinking, our habits 
of labor, our habits of recreation ; in short, we 
have our habits for almost everything. If we 
accustom ourselves to take our meals at some 
particular hour of the day, no matter what, we 
shall find our appetites returning at that hour. 
And so of our desire for sleep. If for a number 
of times we retire at a particular hour for rest, 
we soon form a habit that will be sure to prompt 
us without our recurring to our time-piece. And 
if we accustom ourselves to be awaked from sleep 
at any given hour, we soon acquire a habit of 
awaking at that hour of ourselves, involuntarily. 
We acquire the habit of using certain forms of 
expression, sometimes vulgar expressions, some- 
times ungrammatical, or in bad taste, and do not 
know it till a friend points it out to us. 

Our habits become incorporated into our very 
being ; we do not realize to what extent we are 
under their influence. They determine in a great 
measure our character. They have an influence 
upon all we do. When our habits become con- 
firmed, they are almost omnipotent. If our habits 
are good, they are most powerful auxiliaries to 
preserve us in the paths of virtue. They help us 
resist temptation, and render easy and pleasant 
what would otherwise be difficult and painful. If 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 67 

our habits are bad, they will be likely to exert a 
controlling influence over us for evil. They be- 
come like a chain riveted around our necks, and to 
break away from them, is impossible without a 
desperate effort. Almost as well may the "Ethi- 
opian change his skin, or the leopard his spots." 

The tendency to form habits is a part of our 
constitution, and God created it for wise and 
benevolent purposes, although it is capable of 
great abuse. It rests with ourselves whether habit 
shall be an engine of good or evil. Good habits 
are invaluable in helping us to be useful, and in 
leading a virtuous life ; whereas bad habits so 
completely gain the ascendency in a wicked man. 
that they will lead him on from bad to worse, and 
cause him to perpetrate crimes, almost without 
knowing it, which would once have caused him to 
shudder. Hence we see the importance of giving 
our attention to this subject in early life, for it is 
in youth that the greatest number of our habits 
are formed, and when formed, they will be likely 
to attach to us while we live. They steal upon 
us insensibly ; many are formed without the least 
reflection whatever, particularly bad habits. Bad 
habits are like weeds in a garden : they come up 
and grow of themselves, and unless we are on the 
watch, the first we know, the ground is full of 
them. Good habits are like our choice vegetables 
and flowers. In the first place, they need plant- 



68 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

ing, and then the most tender and assiduous culture 
is requisite to keep them growing, and to prevent 
their being overrun by what is useless and noxious. 
Good habits can be formed by any one, but they 
require much pains and patient perseverance ; 
whereas, to form bad habits requires no pains or 
patience at all. Nothing more is necessary but to 
let the natural heart have its own way for a little 
while, and they will become as numerous as the 
spears of grass under our feet. 

There are two aspects in which this subject 
presents itself for our consideration. 

First, the importance of guarding against the 
formation of bad habits. 

Secondly, the desirableness of forming good 
ones. 

Under the first of these heads, I shall specify 
a few bad habits, quite common, against which 
all, and young people especially, should, be on 
their guard. 

1. There is the habit of carelessness, — a habit 
which, wherever it exists, is a source of great in- 
convenience, and sometimes of very great evil, 
both to the individual who is addicted to it, and to 
all who have anything to do with him. How many 
millions of lives have been lost, and fortunes sacri- 
ficed to the habit of carelessness ! Nearly all of 
what are called accidents on our railroads and 
steamboats are attributable to this alone. Of the 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 69 

buildings that are burned, with the exception of 
those which are set on fire by fiends in human 
shape, ninety-nine out of one hundred are fired by 
carelessness. How often is it that we hear of 
some terrible disaster, involving the most terrific 
loss of life and property, all the results of care- 
lessness ; collision of vessels at sea, and running 
upon reefs, collisions of railroad trains, the upset- 
ing of carriages, the fright and running of horses, 
the explosion of steam-engines, powder-mills, 
magazines, and fire-arms, the falling of timbers at 
.the raising of buildings, the drowning of persons 
when bathing, and on other occasions ! We have 
no idea of the amount of life and property destroyed 
by this one habit, carelessness. Suppose we could 
particularly examine all of what are called accidents 
or casualties which result in the loss of life, limb, 
or property, and learn their minute history, what 
a large proportion should we be able to trace back 
to the carelessness of somebody, as their origin ! 
A large proportion of the diseases that affect the 
community originate in carelessness. Persons 
thoughtlessly expose themselves to a draught of 
air, or to the dews of evening, or go unprotected 
from a warm atmosphere to a cold one ; a severe 
cold is the consequence, and dangerous sickness 
and perhaps death supervenes. It would be easy 
to multiply examples illustrating the evils result- 
ing from carelessness ; and yet how little is thought 



70 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

of it ! It is nothing more nor less than a habit 
formed in early life, and it is a habit seldom 
entirely broken. A careless person remains a 
careless person usually through life. 

This, therefore, is one pernicious habit which 
youth should guard against with great assiduity. 
It is a moral and religious duty to do so. 

Another habit to be shunned is the use of stimu- 
lating drinks and drugs. In these days of light 
and reform on the subject of temperance, it would 
seem as if little need be said on the subject of 
forming the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors ; 
for it is to be presumed, or ought to be, that the 
use of them is laid aside entirely, except for medic- 
inal or mechanical purposes, especially by all who 
call themselves Christians. In former times, when 
spirituous liquors as a beverage were regarded 
not only innocent but beneficial, habits of drink- 
ing were formed unconsciously, which often ended 
in intemperance. By taking a little now and then 
with a friend, or a glass of bitters before break- 
fast to improve the appetite, or at eleven or three 
o'clock, to give strength (as was then erroneously 
supposed) to sustain the burden and heat of the 
day, persons of the most respectable standing in 
society often fell into the habit of going regularly 
to the bottle, till at length they became confirmed 
inebriates. And it is a wonder that all did not 
become so. Although there is a great and favor- 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 71 

able change in the opinions and the customs of the 
community in respect to the use of intoxicating 
drinks in our times, yet the danger is not all past. 
There are persons still, in almost everyplace, who 
are dropping into the ranks of the intemperate, and 
others who are taking lessons in the preparatory 
school of drunkenness, and who will ultimately 
graduate in the gutter. There are those who use 
strong drink, they think solely as a medicine, 
when in fact it is only to satisfy the craving of an 
appetite which will be satisfied with nothing else. 
They began using it as a "medicine," and perhaps 
as a necessary medicine ; but they did not discon- 
tinue it when no longer needed. They have 
formed a habit to which they have already become 
slaves, and there is much reason to fear it will 
land them in the drunkard's grave. The greatest 
caution should be observed in the use of intoxicat- 
ing drinks, even for necessary purposes ; for like 
a subtle enemy, it will, while performing the 
offices of kindness and friendship, slip a snare 
around its victim, and ere he is aware of his danger, 
drag him down to ruin ! 

Be careful then, my young friends, how you 
meddle with them. Shun them as you would 
poison, — -treat them exactly as you do poison. 
Place the two side by side in your medicine-case, 
and resort to them in case of necessity, and at no 
other time ; and when the necessity ceases to exist, 



72 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

do not think of taking a sip of your alcoholic 
drink any sooner than you would of your solution 
of arsenic or corrosive sublimate. 

This is the safe, and the only safe way to avoid 
that habit which has destroyed countless multi- 
tudes, and has sent desolation and woe into thou- 
sands and hundreds of thousands of families. 

There is a habit extensively prevailing in almost 
all communities of using poisonous drugs as well 
as drinks. Opium in its crude state, or in some 
of its preparations, is used habitually by a vast 
many where it is not suspected, especially among 
females, and is accomplishing its slow but sure 
work of undermining the constitution, and weak- 
ening the powers of the intellect, and shortening 
life. 

But the habit that prevails more extensively 
probably than any other in the world, is the use 
of tobacco. It is a habit confined to no com- 
munity, and to no class or order of society. It 
prevails among the high and the low, the rich and 
the poor, the learned and the ignorant, the bond 
and the free, the wise (i. e , those who are wise 
on other subjects) and the foolish, old and young, 
male and* female, legislators, lawyers, doctors, 
clergymen (to their shame be it spoken) , presidents 
and professors in our colleges and seminaries, pro- 
prietors, agents, journeymen and apprentices in 
our manufactories and shops, farmers, merchants, 



FOR3IATION OF HABITS. 73 

clerks, schoolmasters, and school-boys ! Multi- 
tudes pertaining to all these classes of society, in 
every continent, nation, state, county, town, and 
neighborhood under heaven, have surrendered 
their liberties, and avow themselves slaves to the 
habit of using tobacco ! I am by no means dis- 
posed to place this habit, as some have done, on 
the same footing as the habit of using spirituous 
liquors. The moral character of the two habits is 
undoubtedly different in many respects. Xeither 
am I going to deal out anathemas and severe cen- 
sures upon those who have been so unfortunate 
(although it was by their own fault) as to get the 
chains of this habit riveted upon them. From my 
heart I sympathize with them in their slavery, and 
sincerely pity them. But I would, if in my 
power, say a word to my young friends to dis- 
suade them from forming a habit so unnecessary, 
so inconvenient, so disagreeable to others, so 
expensive, and fraught with so many evils. Or, 
if they have begun to form the habit, I would 
implore them to break away from it instantly, 
before the chains are riveted upon them. 

The use of this drug is certainly unnecessary. 
Physicians do not prescribe or recommend it, 
except as they do jalap, quassia, and ipecac, and 
other nauseating drugs, in some peculiar states of 
the health or constitution. There is not a Respect- 
able, well-read physician in the United States who 



74 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

will tell you that tobacco, in either of the three 
forms in which it is used habitually,— smoking, 
chewing, and snuffing, — is necessary to persons in 
health for any purpose whatsoever. It is not 
necessary for comfort or happiness or respect- 
ability. All can be, and are, enjoyed far better 
without it. 

As I do not purpose on this occasion to go 
minutely into the discussion of this subject, I 
pass over its inconvenience, its annoyance to 
others, its injurious effects upon the health and 
constitution, and will say a word or two on the 
expensiveness of the habit. 

The amount of property annually annihilated 
by the habit of which I am speaking, is enormous. 
Said a gentleman, some years ago, who had paid 
much attention to this subject, "The annual cost 
of what goes off in tobacco smoke in these United 
States, cannot be less than thirty millions of 
dollars, and the amount expended for tobacco in 
other forms, more than five millions more ; so that 
the expense for tobacco in this country is more 
than three hundred times as much as the revenue 
of the A. B. C. F. M." The amount consumed by 
church-members far exceeds the sum total of what 
is contributed for the spread of the gospel and sus- 
taining the institutions of religion. The annual 
expense of tobacco for those who use it, especially 
in smoking, ranges individually anywhere from 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 75 

five to one hundred dollars. Three cents a day 
would be considered a meagre allowance to a per- 
son of this class, and yet this amounts in one 
year to eleven dollars, within five cents. And yet 
how many young men, and boys even, expend 
much more than this, and think nothing of it !' 
Suppose they were required to give that amount 
to benevolent purposes, or for the support of the 
gospel ; they would say at once they could not 
possibly afford it. Let a young man spend six 
cents a day for cigars, and continue the practice 
for forty years, as he probably will, should he live 
so long, and at the end of that period the sum 
expended, with interest, will amount to $3,373, 
— enough to buy a small farm ! 

Dr. Aleott of Boston says, "I have known 
many a poor family that consumed in smoking 
and chewing at least twenty-five cents a week ; a 
mere trifle, not worth mentioning, they thought. 
This, in forty years," said he, " at compound inter- 
est, would amount to $2,100." The city of New 
York consumes, it is computed, twenty thousand 
dollars a day on cigars, and less than half of that 
for bread. A writer from England says: "By a 
return recently issued, it* is shown that the duty 
on tobacco, in one year, in the United Kingdom, 
was $25,000,000. In London alone, the duty 
received was $10,000,000. It reads strangely of 
a highly professing Christian community, that they 



76 pastor'^ counsels to young christians. 

spend four times as much in one year in a per- 
nicious indulgence, such as the use of tobacco, as 
they do in the support of all the great philan- 
thropic institutions for the spread of the Gospel 
through the earth, for the circulation of the Bible, 
and for the education of the poor. The mortality 
amongst the population of London, from diseases 
directly resulting from the use of tobacco, is 
appalling, and of this class of sufferers not a few 
are to be found among ministers of the Gospel." 

Another English writer, who has made a care- 
ful computation of the amount of tobacco raised 
and used in the various nations and countries of 
the globe, comes to the conclusion that the ex- 
pense is not much if any less than one dollar 
a year for every man, woman and child on the 
face of the earth, — one thousand millions. This 
sum would build two railroads around the globe 
at a cost of twenty thousand dollars per mile. It 
would employ a million of preachers, and another 
million of teachers, and give to each a salary of 
five hundred to a thousand dollars a year. 

Thus, when we look merely at the cost of the 
habit of which I am speaking, is it not enormous? 
And unless something can be urged in favor of it 
more than has yet been advanced, is it not, to say 
the least, verj r foolish as well as inexpedient to 
contract the habit? I do sincerely believe the 
use of this drug is a great, prominent, crying evil 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 77 

in our world, and that a reform is loudly called 
for. This, however, is almost entirely hopeless, 
so far as those who have been long addicted to the 
habit are concerned. You might just about as veil 
undertake to change the skin of the Ethiopian, or 
the spots of the leopard, as to reform one who 
has been Ions wedded to his tobacco. Our onlv 
hope of success is with the young, and these I 
would affectionately and earnestly warn against 
this disagreeable, pernicious habit. T could say 
much more on this subject. Perhaps some of you 
may think I have said too much already, for I 
know the remarks I have made run directly 
athwart the practices of a large number who now 
read these lines. — not many of my young friends, 
I hope. But I could not say less, in fidelity to the 
youth for whose benefit these remarks are partic- 
ularly designed. 

There are a great many other bad habits, com- 
mon in almost every community, which my limits 
will not permit me to discuss separately at the 
present time. I shall contenr myself by merely 
mentioning some of them, with a word of warn- 
ing that my young friends ma}' guard against 
them. 

There is a habit some persons have of gossip- 
ing* — of going about town, and retailing from 
house to house evil reports against neighbors. — 
circulating tales of scandal in exaggeration of the 
truth. 



78 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

There is a habit of finding fault with everybody 
and everything, in which some indulge, whatever 
may be the pains taken to please them. 

There is the habit of irritability , — of yielding 
to a bad temper, and being easily provoked. 

There is a habit which some get of staying 
away from religious meetings ; and there is a 
habit which others have of sleeping when they do 
go. 

There is a habit observable in some of gazing 
about the church, and giving their attention to 
anything but to what the preacher is saying. 

There is a habit which some very good Christians 
get, of having wandering thoughts in prayer, both 
in public prayer and in the closet, which distresses 
them exceedingly, and leads them to cry out with 
tears, "O wretched man that I am, who shall 
deliver me ? " 

Against these, and similar habits, my young 
friends, I would have you constantly on your 
guard. You will fall into them very easily, and 
if you should do so, they will be likely to gain the 
ascendency over you to such a degree, that to 
break away from them will be almost as impossi- 
sible as for the Ethiopian to change his skin or 
the leopard his spots. 

I conclude this chapter with a friendly exhorta- 
tion to you and myself. Since habits are so 
powerful, and so permanent in their influence, let 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 79 

us assiduously forni and cultivate good ones. 
Let us form the habit of thinking of God, and 
directing our thoughts to God the first thins: 
when we wake in the morning ; the habit of 
pouring out our souls to him in secret prayer'; 
the habit of spending some portion of every day 
in reading the Bible, and other good books ; the 
habit of family worship ; the habit of attending 
the prayer-meeting, as well as the house of God 
on the Sabbath ; the habit of giving attention 
when there ; the habit of introducing religious 
conversation ; the habit of self-denial ; the habit 
of benevolence ; the habit of often turning our 
thoughts to the great end and object of life ; the 
habit of striving every day to serve God with 
all our heart, soul, mind, strength ; and then we 
shall, by God's help, supplant all our bad habits, 
and thus shall we get our feet established in the 
way we should go, so that we shall never depart 
from it. 



80 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTER VII. 
Amusements. 

A time to dance. — Eccl. 3 : 4. 

VERY different views have been taken by man- 
kind on the subject of amusement. Some 
appear to regard it as the great object and end of 
life. So far as we can judge from the course they 
pursue, they seem to think that man was made 
chiefly "to eat and to drink, and then rise up and 
play," and to enjoy the passing hour. Their 
constant aim is to divert the mind from every- 
thing serious, and keep the spirits buoyant and 
light by gay scenes and exhilarating pleasures. . 
Another class of persons go to the opposite 
extreme. They take such views of man as an 
immortal beipg, hastening as he is to eternity, 
and knowing that he is here deciding the great 
problem whether he shall be happy or miserable 
forever, they think it unworthy of his high nature 
and destiny to bestow a thought upon earthly 
pleasure, or anything which has not direct refer- 
ence to that eternity which is just before him. 
Hence, anything like amusement is proscribed by 



AMUSEMENTS. 81 

them entirely, as being not only inappropriate to 
our condition, but as improper and positively 
sinful. 

Now it must be conceded that the views of this 
latter class are far more rational than the former \ 
for they have their origin in the most serious and 
important truths that ever came before the mind 
of man. It is indeed a most solemn thing to live 
in a world of probation, with an entire uncer- 
tainty when that probation will close. To think 
that heaven and hell are but a little before us, 
and that our residence in one or the other of these 
worlds forever is to be determined by us here, is 
sufficient to make any rational, candid mind 
thoughtful and serious. But yet this class of 
persons are mistaken in the views they entertain 
in regard to the means best adapted to secure an 
end. It is true that the great object of life is to 
prepare for eternity. But the question is, What 
means are best adapted to secure the end ? Would 
the mind be in a better state ; would the heart 
be more holy ; would the gracious affections be 
more lively ; would a person love and serve God 
any better, by keeping the attention fixed with- 
out any interruption on eternal things, and shut- 
ting out from the mind everything like pleasure 
or recreation? I think not. There is a class of 
religionists who suppose that to serve God faith- 
fully they must have nothing to do with this 



82 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 

world at all, — especially with anything pleasant. 
Hence they lay aside everything that is adapted 
to make them cheerful and happy, and retire to a 
" cloister " or " nunnery," to spend, as they profess 
to do, the whole of life in devotion. But that is 
not the way God has ordained for us to serve and 
glorify him. He created the mind, with all its 
faculties, and established for it fixed laws ; and 
these laws cannot be violated without injury to 
the mental and moral constitution. God never 
intended that the mind should be forever fixed 
upon one object, or one class of objects. If this 
had been his design, he would have constituted 
the mind very differently from what he has, and 
he would have placed it in very different circum- 
stances. He would not have created those sus- 
ceptibilities to pleasure from worldly good which 
characterize every sentient being ; neither would 
he have created such a world as this is, of so much 
beauty and attractiveness, and so exactly adapted 
in many of its features to engage the attention, 
please the taste, and divert the thoughts. Why 
do you suppose God made the flowers ? and why 
so many of them, and in such rich variety ? and 
why did he make them so beautiful in form, and 
paint them with such exquisite delicacy and rich- 
ness of hue, and perfume them so sweetly? Was 
it not that they might attract the attention of man 
and afford him pleasure, — in other words, to amuse 



AMUSEMENTS. 83 

turn ? It was for the same reason he created the 
birds of every variety of plumage, and set them 
all to music, so that they fill the world with their 
harmony. And so of animals, and insects, and 
creeping things, and fishes, and the landscape. 
Everything ?f God has made beautiful in his time. 5 ' 
And why so beautiful? Why did he not make 
grasses and shrubs without flowers ? Whv did he 
not create all vegetation, and trees, and birds, and 
beasts, and insects, of one uniform color, or 
rather, of no color at all? Why did he diversify 
the earth with such varied and delightful scenery ? 
Why did he make morning light, breaking in the 
east, so beautiful? and why did he deck the 
western sky at evening with curtains of gold and 
silver, and purple and crimson ? Recreation is a 
divine institution. God has made it essential to 
the happiness and highest development of every 
order of sentient beings. Their nature demands 
it. It is necessary both to their health and hap- 
piness. We see this exemplified in the whole 
animal creation. Look at the birds and the in- 
sects, the fishes, and all the different varieties of 
animals. They by no means employ the whole of 
their time in seeking their food and the necessa- 
ries of existence ; but a portion of every day is 
spent in recreation. See the birds sporting 
among the branches, or performing their graceful 
evolutions in the air, the insects dancing in the 



84 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

sunbeams, the flocks and herds, and our various 
domestic animals gamboling either alone or with 
each other, — all acting out the nature God has 
given them, in finding out some appropriate amuse- 
ment. Deprive them of recreation, and they 
"would cease to be happy ; they would lose their 
vivacity, droop, and come to a premature end. 

Recreation is as essential to man as it is to 
other animals, and indeed more so. The body 
needs it, and the mind especially needs it. The 
mind is so constituted that* it must have it, or it 
will be both weakened and distorted. Religion, 
therefore, and the very highest type of religion, 
does not forbid a relaxation or diversion of the 
mind from severe studies, and things strictly 
spiritual, to those of a lighter character ; in other 
words, amusements. Amusements are proper for 
all ages, and all classes of society; but at no 
period of life are they so much demanded as in 
childhood and youth. It has often been said that 
"the young will have their amusements, and we 
cannot help it if we try." This is all very true ; 
they will have their amusements, and they 
ought to have them, and we don't wish to w help 
it." What we wish is, that they may have the 
right kind of amusement, in right proportion, and 
at the right time. It being conceded that man- 
kind, and especially the young, need and must 
have amusements, our attention is naturally di- 



AMUSEMENTS. 85 

reeled to the inquiry, what kinds of amusement 
and recreation — for amusement and recreation 
mean nearly the same thing — are proper for ra- 
tional and immortal beings? And here we find 
a great diversity of opinion. Some would give a 
very wide range, and permit those who want 
amusement to find it in almost any employment or 
pleasure which is not a downright, palpable viola- 
tion of the express law of God. Others would 
restrict amusements to so few, and so tame rec- 
reations, that they might just about as well have 
none at all. In regard to this subject, as well as 
most others, truth, or propriety, lies between ex- 
tremes. It would be well if we could find the 
happy and safe medium, although it must be con- 
fessed it is somewhat difficult to draw the line, 
with perfect distinctness, between those amuse- 
ments which are innocent and expedient, and 
those wdiich are improper and injurious. 

We can, however, without difficulty, lay down 
some general principles, which I think will be a 
sufficient guide in most cases in regard to our 
choice of amusements, and the attention we should 
give them. 

1. Amusements must be interesting. This fol- 
lows from the very object we have in view. To 
get up something that has nothing in it to interest 
or excite the mind, and call it li amusement," is to 
misapply terms ; and it is wholly useless, so far as 
the end contemplated is concerned. 



86 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

2. They should be healthful. We have no right 
to trifle with our health, or do anything which we 
have reason to believe will impair it, unless it be 
something which is a positive duty. When duty 
calls, we may leave our health in the keeping of 
God, but it is tempting him to do so when we 
have nothing in view but pleasure. 

3. They should be of good, or at least not evil 
tendency. They should not lead to dissipation, 
nor extravagance, nor to a waste of time, nor to 
unfit the mind for devotion. 

4. They should be, as far practicable, improv- 
ing. 

5. They should be adapted to age, sex, and 
circumstances. 

6. They should be timely. There are seasons 
when amusements which are in themselves per- 
fectly innocent, would be entirely out of place 
and positively sinful. Amusements would be, of 
course, wrong on the Sabbath. And some kinds 
of innocent amusement would be out of place in 
time of revival, or in affliction, or in time of great 
public calamity. 

Attention to these general principles wdll very 
much assist us in deciding what recreations are 
proper at suitable times. Perhaps, however, 
you would prefer that I should be a little more 
specific, and mention some particular kinds of 
amusements which may be regarded as proper or 
improper. 



AMUSEMENTS. 87 

Among the various kinds which may be regarded 
as innocent and proper, I would mention orna- 
mental gardening, drawing and painting, music 
(vocal and instrumental) , reading (especially 
history, travels, biography, and poetry). I would 
not wholly proscribe works of fiction, although 
the greatest care should be taken in making a 
selection ; for a large proportion of the novels of 
the present day are like confectionery flavored 
with prussic acid, — a substance pleasant to the 
taste, but one of the most deadly poisons. I 
would add the study of botany, mineralogy, 
geology, natural history of birds, beasts, fishes, 
and insects ; the latter study aided by a micro- 
scope. In these studies, pursued not as a task, 
but simply as amusements, you will find a vast 
storehouse of interest and pleasure, sometimes 
extremely exciting. 

For those who wish to combine exercise with 
amusement, there are athletic sports for boys and 
young men, such as gymnastic exercises, ball- 
playing, and other similar games, which, if con- 
ducted in kind feelings and with decorum, will 
answer the double purpose of innocent pleasure 
and exercise. 

Young 1 ladies mav combine amusement with 
healthful exercise in the modern and excellent 
game of croquet with or without gentlemen 
partners, in calisthenics , riding horseback, in bo- 



88 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

tanical excursions, ranging the fields and woods in 
search of wild-flowers, and the cultivation of 
flowers in the garden and conservatory. Within 
doors there is a great variety of ways in which 
they may amuse themselves and their friends, with 
the needle, crayon, and in many varieties of fancy 
and ornamental work, in which pleasure and utility 
are united. 

Occasional parties of pleasure, in which both 
sexes participate, are both proper and desirable, 
if conducted with decorum. A riding party, a 
picnic party, a party for rambling in the green 
fields or woods, or up mountain slopes, or through 
flowery glades and dells, a party for sailing, fish- 
ing, sleighing, or skating, — each and everyone 
of these, enlivened by polite, intelligent, cheerful 
conversation, may be innocently and profitably 
enjoyed. Such assemblages of young people, at 
proper times, are unobjectionable, unless suffered 
to degenerate (as they sometimes do) into rude- 
ness, levity, and folly. 

A" great many innocent recreations might be 
added to this list. I have mentioned these as 
specimens of a class of amusements which may be 
enjoyed at proper times and places, by young 
people, and also by those of maturer years, with- 
out sin. 

In this connection I will specify a few popular 
amusements belonging to the class of objectionable 



AMUSEMENTS. 89 

pleasures and recreations, against which I would 
put my young friends on their guard. 

The first I would mention is theatrical amuse- 
ments. There are persons who call themselves 
respectable, who undertake to defend the theater;' 
but I seldom have known a professed Christian 
do so, or at least one who gave evidence of eminent 
piety. It is asked, " What harm is there in the 
stage, provided it is under good and wholesome 
regulations ; and provided also, no plays are 
acted but those of a good moral tendency ? " But 
who, I ask in return, ever saw or ever heard of a 
theater conducted on these principles ? There is 
not a theater in the country, and probably not 
one in the world, that would not become bankrupt 
in six months, were it conducted on sound moral 
and religious principles. The theater is, and ever 
has been, and there is no doubt will ever be, a 
school of vice of the worst kind, and is one of 
Satan's grand devices to undermine the principles 
of youth, and ripen them for perdition. In order 
to sustain itself, it finds it necessary to pander to 
the worst passions of our depraved nature, and 
the moment it ceases to do so, that moment it 
begins to lose patronage, and it ceases to pay. 
Besides the immoral tendency of many of its plays, 
it must have its immodest daughters of Herodias, 
its drinking saloons, and its third tier. A theater 
such as it should be, never existed (certainly not 



90 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

for any length of time) , and never will exist, ex- 
cept in the imagination. Repeated attempts have 
been made to reform the theater. Reform "Pande- 
monium ! " Few things have done more to cor- 
rupt the principles of youth than the theater and 
its appendages. I would therefore caution you, 
my young friends, to shun its doors. It would be 
far better to have no amusement, than such as the 
modern playhouse would give you. It is very 
common for persons from the country, when they 
visit New York, Boston, or any other large city, 
especially for the first time, to go to the theater ; 
and this is sometimes done by Christians who 
would blush to have it known at home that they had 
done so. They say to themselves, "It is only for 
once ; I am a stranger here, and my influence is 
nothing, and I wish to see and judge for myself; 
nobody will ever know it." On the same principle 
might they visit the lowest sinks of vice in the 
city. It is by persons from the country that the 
theater is in a great measure supported. It is 
said by those best acquainted, that there is not a 
theatrical establishment in New York or Boston 
but would go down, were it not for country 
patronage. Remember, my young friends, that the 
eye of God is upon you, abroad as well as at home, 
and whenever the devil tempts you to do anything 
wrong, and suggests to you that "you are a 
stranger, and it will never be known," remember 



AMUSEMENTS. 91 

that the time is coming when every " hidden thing 
shall be brought to light," and what is done in 
secret w shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops." 
Another popular amusement, less objectionable, 
but still inexpedient, in the opinion of most good 
Christians, and productive of evil, is the amuse- 
ment of the ball-room or dancing party. Much 
has been said in favor of dancing, as beins: an in- 
nocent, healthful exercise. "If it is not wrong 
to run and jump for sport, and for exercise, what 
harm," it is asked, "is there in stepping to music?" 
I answer, in itself there is none at all. To danc- 
ing, as a home amusement and exercise among 
children and youth, if it could be confined there, 
there would be no objection, If this amusement 
could be put under bonds to occupy its proper 
time and place, I would give it my hearty ap- 
proval. But it is very impatient of restraint. 
Experience has proved — whether it can be ac- 
counted for or not— that dancing in promiscuous 
assemblies, where people meet together for this 
express purpose, is one of the most exciting, 
fascinating, absorbing pleasures ever invented ; 
and that its influence upon those who engage in it is 
often decidedly injurious. There are some things 
which we must judge of by the effects they pro- 
duce, rather than by a process of reasoning upon 
their nature : and dancing is one. As I said 
before, if dancing could be confined to the do- 



92 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

mestic circle at home, under the parental eye, I 
should have nothing to say against it, but would 
class it with other innocent youthful sports. But, 
is it not almost invariably true, that when young 
people turn their attention to dancing, and learn 
the art, they are seldom content to practise it as a 
home exercise for an hour or two, but they must 
get up dancing parties and balls? These are as 
exciting as the intoxicating gas. The influence 
of the ball-room is exceedingly pernicious. It 
leads to extravagance in dress, and consequently 
to fostering the passions of envy, pride, and 
vanity. It leads to keeping late hours ; and, by 
producing an unnatural exhilaration of spirits, the 
bodily powers are overtaxed, the health is much 
exposed, and not unfrequently the constitution is 
undermined, and many a lovely youth is hurried 
to a premature grave ! When persons begin to in- 
dulge in the fascinating amusement of the dancing 
assembly, they enter a course which will probably 
end in a round of dissipation. The mind becomes 
almost entirely absorbed in the pleasure. It 
dwells upon it to the exclusion of almost every- 
thing else, both before and afterward. Every 
thought of God, and eternity, and the interests of 
the soul, is banished ; and the mind is in as un- 
suitable a state to pray, and hold communion with 
God, as it can well be. 

This is almost the invariable testimony of those 



AMUSEMENTS. 93 

Christians who, m the days of their vanity, yielded 
themselves up to the influence of this intoxicating 
pleasure. 

While, therefore, it is conceded that, in itself 
considered, there is nothing sinful in stepping to 
music, yet, when we consider the effect of ^dancing 
on the mind, its liability to abuse, and the evils to 
which it naturally and generally leads, must we 
not put it down on the list of objectionable, or at 
least doubtful amusements? 

As for the waltz, or " round-dance " between the 
sexes, it is lit only for, and leads to, the house 
"of her whose feet go down to death, and whose 
steps take hold on hell." 

Card-playing is another species of objectionable 
amusement. To play any kind of game for a 
stake — in other words, to practise gambling — is 
obviously so inconsistent with Christian principle, 
that a word need not be said to convince you of 
the impropriety and sinfulness of it. But to play 
cards and other games for diversion merely, is 
thought by many to be unobjectionable. There 
are many games got up to interest and instruct 
children and young people which are innocent and 
proper ; but among these " card-playing ? ' is not 
to be classed ; and the reason w^hy cards are to be 
excepted is, their evil tendency. Card-playing is 
a stepping-stone to gambling ; cards are the chief 
tools the gamester uses ; and whoever gets in the 



94 pastok's counsels to young christians. 

habit of using these tools in sport, will be very 
likely to use them, ere long, in earnest. There 
is, in the playing of cards, no mental discipline and 
no instruction, although there is a very dangerous 
fascination. It leads to a great waste of time, 
it produces an unhealthy mental excitement, 
leads to the keeping of unseasonable hours, and 
tends to dissipation generally. It is the tendency 
of this amusement, as learned by its history, which 
leads us to distinguish it from many innocent games 
— such as chess, draughts, dominos, etc., — and to 
discard it as improper for Christians to indulge in. 
It was once regarded a crime to have a pack of 
playing-cards in the house, and it was punished 
as such by the laws of the State of Connecticut. 
I might proceed and specify other amusements 
which might be placed in this category ; but I 
would say, generally, that you should discard every 
amusement which you have reason to believe, from 
observation or experience, has an injurious effect 
upon the body, the intellect, or the heart. I shall 
close with a few practical considerations. 

1. Amusements, if properly selected, although 
innocent and desirable, should ever hold a subordi- 
nate place. The great object and end of life is, 
not to be amused, but to be useful, glorify God, 
and prepare for eternity. Hence your worldly 
pleasures and recreations should occupy but a 
very small proportion of your precious time. 



AMUSEMENTS. 95 

They will look very small when you come to lie 
down upon the bed of death, and smaller still when 
you look back upon them from the eternal world. 
You should, therefore, keep them within narrow 
limits, and give them no more of your time and 
attention than properly belongs to them. The 
heart should not be set upon them, and you should 
never for a moment permit them to come between 
you and the duties which you owe to God and 
your fellow-man. 

2. You should lay it down as a safe practical 
rule, applicable at all times and in all circum- 
stances, never to do anything which you cannot 
pray over and ask God's blessing upon. This 
may serve as a test to enable you to judge whether 
a proposed recreation is sinful or not: "GanI, 
without doing violence to my conscience, ask 
God's blessing upon this?" If not, then you may 
be pretty sure that it is wrong, and should be 
rejected. 

3. You should often examine yourselves to see 
what effect your amusements produce upon your 
Christian character and feelings. Do they serve 
to increase your love to God, and excite a warmer 
love and gratitude to him for strewing so many 
flowers in your rugged pathway through this 
world to heaven, and do they quicken and enliven 
your devotions, and render vour religious duties 
more pleasant? Or do they serve to withdraw 



96 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

your hearts from God and heavenly things, 
hinder you in prayer, and give you a disrelish for 
the duties of the closet? If the former, then con- 
tinue to enjoy them as the gifts of your Heavenly 
Father, and designed to do you good ; but if the 
latter, then beware of them, lest they prove snares 
laid by the devil to entrap your feet and keep you 
out of heaven. It is possible that some amuse- 
ments, lawful in themselves, may be unlawful to 
you, on account of your peculiar temperament. 
If so, discard them at once and forever. 



INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 97 



CHAPTER Yin. 
Intellectual Improvement, 

Apply tliine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the 
words of knowledge. — Prov. 23: 12, 

I ADDRESS you in this chapter, niy young 
friends, on a most important subject, and one 
intimately connected with your happiness, re- 
spectability, and usefulness : and that is, the cul- 
tivation and improvement of the mind. It is a 
subject r-eceiving more attention now in our 
country, and in the world, than in any previous 
time since the world was created. We live in an 
age of colleges, schools, books, periodicals, and 
newspapers ; an age of discoveries in science, and 
of improvement in the arts. Formerly, knowl- 
edge was hidden from the masses ; and if a man 
had ambition to know anything beyond what per- 
tained to the most common affairs and necessities 
of life, it required a great deal of time, labor, and 
expense, to learn even a very little. But in our 
times, facilities for acquiring useful information are 
multiplied almost without measure. Knowledge, 
instead of being concealed, except from a favored 



98 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

few, and acquired by them at very great disadvan- 
tage, is brought out from its seclusion, and courts 
attention. It now visits every man's door and 
asks admittance. Hence, in our times, there is no 
excuse for ignorance. Although some enjoy much 
greater facilities for acquiring knowledge and im- 
proving their minds than others, yet there is no 
person, however obscure his situation, and limited 
his pecuniary resources, who cannot obtain a re- 
spectable fund of useful information, and who 
cannot every day make some improvement. But 
it is nevertheless true, that multitudes of people, 
even now, do not realize nor appreciate as they 
ought, the privileges they enjoy ; or rather they do 
not appreciate the importance of mental culture. 
Their views of education, its end and object, are 
extremely limited. They think it important that 
persons should be able to read and write intel- 
ligibly enough at least to sign their names to 
notes and deeds, and to read the signatures of 
others ; to be sufficiently versed in geography to 
find their way to the nearest market-town and 
back again ; to understand enough of mathemat- 
ics to compute the amount their produce comes 
to, and to count the dollars and cents they re- 
ceive for it. So far as learning can be turned to 
any account in making money, they approve of it 
and acquire it, but no farther. This, in their view, 
is the sole value of education, and the only end 



INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 99 

for which it should be obtained. With such views, 
no wonder they do not avail themselves of the 
abundant means which lie within their reach for 
mental improvement. Such persons take a very 
low. groveling view of their own nature and des- 
tiny. Just as if the great end of man's existence 
was to get and keep money ! or. as Bunyan illus- 
trates it. "to spend the whole of life in gathering 
rubbish with a muck-rake ! " My young friends. I 
hope you will remember that this was not the 
object for which God made you. He would not 
have created your minds, with all the capabilities 
for enlargement and refinement they possess, if 
he designed them to be forever employed about 
trifles. He designed that your minds should be 
improved, enlarged, and elevated by intelligence. 
The mind is like a precious gem. which in its natu- 
ral state is rough, and sometimes gives no indica- 
tion of the transcendent beauties that lie concealed 
within it. Give it to a person ignorant of its 
nature and its hidden virtues, and he would look 
upon it as nothing worth ; and he would cast it 
carelessly away, as he would a common pebble. 
But give it to a lapidary, and he will grind off 
its dull surface, and by long, faithful labor in 
rubbing, cutting, and polishing, will cause it to 
develop a sparkling brilliancy, astonishing to the 
beholder. Just so* it is with the mind : if uncul- 
tivated and left in its natural state, as among the 



100 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

Hottentots and the inhabitants of the South Seas, 
its powers and capabilities are unseen and not 
appreciated ; and so far as appearances are con- 
cerned, it is not very much elevated above the 
most intelligent of the brute creation. But 
educate that mind, place it in favorable circum- 
stances for development, rouse it up to action, 
stimulate it, give it suitable nourishment, bring it 
to think, reason, reflect, compare, read, and study, 
and its dormant powers and capabilities will be 
brought to light, so that a person will often be 
astonished at himself. To each one of you, my 
young friends, God has entrusted such a gem. 
He does not expect you to throw it away, or to 
let it remain as he gave it you, in its rough, un- 
polished state ; but he designs to have you bestow 
a great deal of labor upon it, — polish it, and 
develop all its latent beauties. Your minds are 
talents which he has given you to improve ; and 
he expects these talents to " gain other talents be- 
sides them, 5 ' and he bids you to " occupy till he 
comes." Every day that passes over your heads 
should be a day of mental improvement. Your 
minds should be enlarged, and you should know 
more in the evening than you did in the morning. 
If you add only a little to jomv stock of knowl- 
edge every day, and retain it, at the end of the 
year you will be astonished at the amount you 
have acquired. Many persons, with small advan- 



IXTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 101 

tages for attending school, by pursuing this course 
have acquired far more useful knowledge, and ob- 
tained a better education for all practical purposes, 
than multitudes who have been through college. 

Feeling it to be far more important for you. my 
young friends, to improve your minds, than to 
learn how to make money, I propose to give some 
directions, attention to which cannot fail, I think, 
to result in your intellectual improvement. 

1. In the first place, you must be deeply im- 
pressed with a sense of its importance. Persons 
will never make any great effort to obtain what 
they regard as of but little comparative conse- 
quence. Think of what you are ; of the noble 
powers and faculties with which God has en- 
dowed you. Surely you were created for higher 
and nobler objects, than to enjoy the pleasures of 
sense, and grovel about here in the dirt, to see 
how much of it you can heap up and call it 
" wealth/' The man who devotes his energies to the 
accumulation of this world, in any of its forms, 
rather than to the improvement of his mind, and 
to the acquisition of knowledge, is to be pitied. 
He acts unworthy of himself, and of the exalted 
nature God has given him. Solomon says a 
great deal on this subject. When comparing 
mental and worldly acquisitions, he says. "Wis- 
dom is the principal thing, therefore, with all thy 
^ettino's, get understandinov' ''Receive mv in- 



102 pastok's counsels to youxg christians. 

structiou, and not silver, and knowledge rather 
than choice gold. " "Apply thine heart unto in- 
struction, and thine ears to the words of knowl- 
edge. Buy the truth and sell it not ; also wis- 
dom and instruction and understanding." 

Job says, "Where shall wisdom be found? and 
where is the place of understanding? man know- 
eth not the price thereof, neither is it found in 
the land of the living. The depth saith, f it is not 
in me', and the sea saith, ? it is not with me.' It 
cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be 
weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be val- 
ued with the gold of Ophir, w r ith the precious 
onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal 
cannot equal it, and the exchange of it shall not 
be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be 
made of coral, or of pearls ; for the price of wis- 
dom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall 
not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure 
gold." You see by these passages, my young 
friends, how much greater value the sacred writ- 
ers placed upon the attainments of the mind, than 
upon all the riches of this w r orld. And yet, how 
many will sacrifice all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge, to get money ! Be yours a higher 
aim. Feel that the mind must have your first 
attention, and that earthly riches are purchased at 
too dear a rate if mental improvement is to be 
the price paid for them. 



INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 103 

2. Be determined' that you will make some- 
thing in the world worthy of intellectual beings. 
Do not content yourselves with a reputation 
merely for skill, enterprise, and thrift in the in- 
dustrial occupation you may have selected for 
life. There are multitudes of persons who have 
no greater ambition than to have it said of them, 
that they are good farmers, good mechanics, or 
good merchants, or good housekeepers. Let 
your aspirations be higher than this. It is very 
well to have a good reputation for business, but 
much better if you can add to it superior intelli- 
gence. I wish you to be known, in whatever cir- 
cle you may move, as persons of information, — 
of reading, thought, and reflection. Determine 
that you will rise above the dead level with which 
so many are content. It is possible for you to 
rise much higher, in point of intelligence, than 
you ever thought of attaining. Perhaps you may 
reply, r 'If I had the advantages that some have 
of going to school or college, I then might hope 
to make something ; but with my limited advan- 
tages it's of no use to try." Let me tell j-ou, my 
friends, this is a very great mistake. It is not 
going to school, or to college, that makes a man; 
but a resolute, inflexible, persevering determina- 
tion that he will become so, let his advantages be 
what they may. Colleges and schools are of in- 
estimable value, and I would have you all, both 



104 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

male and female, avail yourselves of their aid, if 
in your power, and circumstances will allow. 
Seminaries of learning are great auxiliaries in cul- 
tivating the mind ; but a persistent, indomitable 
purpose to rise in the world at any rate, is worth 
more than they all. Try to make something, and 
you will. It has been very wisely said, " c I can't ' 
never accomplished anything, but f I will try' has 
wrought wonders." To nothing is this saying 
more applicable than to the cultivation of the 
mind. How many men have risen to eminence, 
even in the sciences and the professions, with 
scarcely any external advantages at all, simply 
because they determined they would do so. Such 
are called "self-made men." Benjamin Franklin 
was one of them, and so was Roger Sherman, and 
so was Abraham Lincoln. They had very few 
advantages for going to school. One was a 
printer, another a shoemaker, and the other an 
uncultivated backwoodsman. And yet, by their 
own efforts, they rose to great eminence, and left 
their names inscribed upon the scroll of their na- 
tion's history ; and there they will remain, in 
characters of light, till time shall be no more. 

What should hinder some of you from becoming 
like one of them, unless it be indolence or irres- 
olution? There have been thousands of men, 
whose native talents were as good as theirs, who 
haye lived and died in ignorance and obscurity, 



INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 105 

only for the want of their resolution and self- 
application. Remember the adage, "What has 
been done, may be done again." If Franklin 
became a great, wise, and learned man, with but 
few school advantages, — if Roger Sherman rose 
from the shoemaker's bench to the bench of the 
Supreme Court, and then to a seat in Congress, — 
if Abraham Lincoln rose from the position o± a 
boatman on the Western rivers, or a "splitter vf 
rails " in an Illinois forest, to the Presidential 
chair, why may not you rise to eminence in some 
sphere, provided you will adopt their resolution, 
diligence, and patient perseverance? 

3. Appropriate some portion of every day to 
mental improvement. Perhaps some of you may 
say that "you are so circumstanced, and your 
time so much taken up, that it cannot be done." 
Yes, it can. I do not believe there is one person 
in ten thousand who cannot, by extra care and 
diligence, redeem a few moments each day both 
for devotion, and the cultivation of the mind. If 
it be only five or ten minutes, those, if faithfully 
improved, will enable you, in a course of years, 
to add a vast amount to your stock of knowledge. 
Always have on hand some useful book for read- 
ing or study. Some of you, probably most of 
you, have completed your education at school; 
but that is no reason why you should throw aside 
your school-books. A few moments devoted to 



106 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

looking over, and reviewing your former studies, 
will be of incalculable value to you. You will 
be much better able to understand and apply 
your studies now, than w T hen you attended to 
them as tasks. By looking over a page or half 
a page, in the morning, of your geography, or 
natural philosophy, or astronomy, or rhetoric, or 
mental philosophy, or even a rule or two of 
grammar or arithmetic, you will have material 
for thought while your hands are busily em- 
ployed at work. Our minds are always busy, 
and it is not necessary that they should be 
wholly engrossed by our manual employment, 
unless our work should happen to be very in- 
tricate and difficult. The farmer, when wielding 
his hoe or axe, or holding his plough ; the me- 
chanic and artisan when using their tools ; the 
lady when plying her needle, may often, without 
detriment to their work, employ their thoughts 
on other subjects. And I believe they generally 
do. Now, instead of letting the mind wander at 
random to this thing or that, or upon frivolous 
or unprofitable themes, let it dwell upon some- 
thing that you read in the morning, — some prin- 
ciple in natural philosophy or mathematics, some 
fact in natural science, geography, or history, 
and it will soon become interested ; and some- 
times a new train of thought will be struck out, 
which, if prosecuted, may result in the discovery 



INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 107 

of new truths or some new invention to bless 
the world. Most of the improvements in the 
arts, and the most valuable inventions, have been 
thought out by practical men when engaged in 
their work. But they w r ould never have had 
these trains of thought, and would never have 
made these improvements had they not laid the 
foundation for them in their habits of daily read- 
ing and study. In addition to an occasional 
review of the books you studied in school, you 
may enlarge your ideas and expand the mind by 
a course of general reading. Instead of spend- 
ing your leisure time, as too many young people 
do, in reading novels and newspaper tales, many 
of which tend to enervate and often to poison the 
mind, read something that w T ill acid to the treas- 
ures of your store-house of knowledge, and 
strengthen the powers of the intellect. To this 
end I would advise you to a course of reading. 
I spoke of reading in the preceding chapter as 
an amusement. I now speak of it as a duty — a 
means of mental improvement as well. History 
especially should claim your attention. You 
should of course be familiar with the historical 
events of our own State and country. Ignorance 
here is inexcusable in anybody. 

Reading the history of England should follow 
that of our own country, for that is the land of 
our ancestors ; and then the history of the other 



108 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

nations of Europe. It is not to be expected that 
you will read all the larger works of modern 
history ; but there are excellent compendiums 
which will o^ive vou a o-eneral knowledge of the 
rise and progress of all the civilized nations of 
the earth. 

Ancient history should be perused, particularly 
the compendium of Rollin, where you will find 
much in a little space. I would also advise you 
to make yourselves familiar with ecclesiastical 
history, and by all means read D'Aubigne's His- 
tory of the Reformation. 

It would be useful to you to read the biogra- 
phies of Washington, Franklin, Brainerd, Henry 
Martyn, Legh Richmond, Henry Kirke White, 
William Wirt, James B. Taylor, and a host of 
others that might be mentioned. It is extremely 
improving to the mind as well as the heart to pe- 
ruse the lives of great and good men, for we can 
hardly help being inspired with a desire to imi- 
tate their example, and to emulate their virtues. 

But I will not detain you longer on the subject 
of reading. I would say, generally, if you would 
improve, always have on hand a useful book, and 
read at least a page or two in it every day. You 
can do it if you only think so. 

4. In the fourth place, I would advise all my 
young friends to be in the habit invariably of 
putting the inquiry to themselves every even- 



INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 109 

ing, ff What have I learned that is new or useful 
to-day?" "What do I know this evening that I 
did not know in the morning ? " There need not 
be, and there ought not to be, a day allowed to pass 
over your heads without your obtaining at least 
one new, useful idea. Some days you may ob- 
tain a number. Now it would be well for you 
to bring yourselves to the test every evening by 
putting the inquiry, " What new fact, new truth, 
new principle have I learned to-day ? " This 
practice will give definiteness and shape to what 
you may have learned, and will be a monitor to 
reprove you if you have learned nothing. I was 
once acquainted with an excellent boarding-school 
where, at the supper-table, each young lady was 
required to state at least one useful thing site 
knew which she did not know in the morning. 

I would advise you still further, to keep a blank 
book, and write down that new idea, or new fact 
which you acquired during the day, and then 
you will make sure of it. If you are faithful in 
carrying out this plan, you will find your book 
rapidly growing in your hands, and in a little 
time you will find it a most valuable repository of 
useful knowledge, and that knovvdedge will be 
all your own. It will be incorporated into your 
very being, and become as it were a part of your- 
self, and it will, during your lifetime, and when 
you are dead and gone, be a perpetual memento 
of your good judgment and industry. 



110 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

5. Ill the fifth place I would say, if you would 
improve your minds, always have your eyes and 
ears open to notice whatever is useful or interesting 
in the world around you, and then think about it, 
and reason about it, and get all the information 
you can pertaining to it. 

Take every proper opportunity to converse on 
subjects of interest and importance, and espe- 
cially to ask questions of those whose knowledge 
is superior to your own. By conversation and 
comparing views, you will be able often to mutu- 
ally edify and instruct each other. 

6. Lastly, there is nothing so well calculated to 
improve and enlarge the mind as the study of God 
and his works. Here is a field of thought vast 
as immensity. The powers of an angel can never 
fully explore it. We can never comprehend the 
Divine Being ; yet by diligent study and prayer, 
we may learn much that pertains to his being 
and his character, and every new discovery we 
make of him, tends to improve both the heart 
and the intellect. How great is God ! and how 
great are his works ! Everything about him is 
infinite, and although infinity is entirely past our 
comprehension, yet a contemplation of it cannot 
fail to raise the mind from trifles, and to make an 
effort to reach forward and try to grasp at some- 
thing beyond itself, great and elevated. Every 
attempt of the kind serves to quicken the mind 



INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. Ill 

to activity, and to strengthen and enlarge its 
powers. 

I have given you a brief outline, my young 
friends, of a method by which you may make 
daily improvement as intellectual beings. Much 
more might be said on this subject ; but if you 
will only put faithfully in practice the few hints 
I have given, you will soon find yourselves rising 
in the scale of intelligence ; you will be able to 
investigate and comprehend subjects which now 
appear to you dark and inexplicable ; you will 
find an enjoyment in intellectual pursuits far 
superior to making money; you will be re- 
spected in society ; you will enjoy far greater 
facilities for doing good, and you will prepare 
for a tranquil and happy old age. 



112 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

Study of the Bible 

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By 
taking heed thereto according to thy word. — Ps. 119 : 9. 

THESE words imply that it is not an easy mat- 
ter for the young to get through the world 
without being corrupted and led astray. The 
Psalmist undoubtedly spoke from experience. 
David was pious when very young. He was but 
a stripling when he fought and slew Goliath ; but 
he seems then to have made great attainments in 
piety, for he talks like an old hero who had long 
held familiar intercourse with God. He also 
refers back to his more youthful experience, when 
he had placed his confidence in God, and God had 
delivered him from the paw of the lion and the 
bear. But still, David had a depraved heart, like 
all other young men, and was no doubt often 
betrayed into sin. In another place he prays God 
"not to remember against him the sins of his 
youth." He found it no easy matter to resist all 
the temptations by which he was assailed, and to 
make his way through them unscathed. Hence 



STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 113 

he inquires, w TThere withal shall a young man 
cleanse his way ? " How shall he make his way 

through this sinful, corrupt world without being 
polluted? He himself answers the question in 
the second clause of the verse. He is to cleanse 
his way "by talcing heed thereto according to God's 
word." God's truth is to be his guide. If the 
young man will be careful to consult that, and 
square his life according to its heavenly teachings, 
then he may go on securely and not fear contam- 
ination. 

David expressed an important truth, applicable 
to youth of both sexes : they can cleanse their 
way. and walk securely the slippery paths they are 
called to tread, only by consulting the Bible, and 
taking it as a "lamp unto their feet, and a light 
unto their path.*' 

The subject which I propose for your consider- 
ation in this chapter, my young friends, is the 
importance to you of an intimate acquaintance 
with the sacred scriptures, and of taking the Bible 
as your guide through life. From your infancy you 
have been taught to read the Bible, and to revere 
it as the word of God. You have in this volume 
a treasure above all price. It is worth more to 
you, ten thousand times, than all the treasures of 
earth put together ; and yet I apprehend you do 
not fully appreciate it, for there are few persons 
who do ; and there is danger, not that you will 



114 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

totally neglect it, — for I can hardly conceive that 
possible if you are real Christians, — but that you 
will undervalue it, and will read and study it 
much less than you ought. Suffer me, then, to 
present unto you some of the claims of the Bible 
upon your attention. 

The Bible is a most remarkable book. To the 
mere scholar it is the most interesting and 
instructive book ever written. Its antiquity far 
exceeds that of any other composition whatever. 
It contains the only authentic account of the 
history of our race. As a mere book of history 
it infinitely surpasses in interest any other; it is, 
in fact, a clew to all other history, and the only 
ancient history that can be implicitly relied on. 
As a literary work it is unrivaled by the most 
learned and elaborate productions, either of 
ancient or modern times. There was no poetry 
ever written that will compare in beauty and sub- 
limity with the hallowed inspirations of David, 
Isaiah, Job, and others. It is necessary only for 
the man of letters and of taste, whether he be a 
Christian or an infidel, to compare, with candor 
and impartiality, the Bible with the most cel- 
ebrated of all other writings, in respect to purity 
of style, simplicity, elevation of sentiment, 
poetic imagery, grandeur and sublimity of con- 
ception, disinterestedness and benevolent ten- 
dency, and moral excellence, and he cannot fail to 



STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 115 

give the scriptures the decided preference, and 
every man of candor will acknowledge it. The 
above is the testimony of Sir William Jones, one of 
England's most distinguished Christian scholars of 
the eighteenth century. But it is on account of 
its divine authority that the Bible presents the 
strongest claim to j^our attention. The Bible is 
no human composition ; it had its origin in heaven 
and was dictated by God. It was written by men 
under the special, immediate inspection, guidance, 
and control of the Holy Spirit, so that it comes to 
us with all the authority with which a message 
would be clothed written by the finger of God 
himself; and when we read the sacred scriptures, 
we should ever feel and realize that God is speak- 
ing to us, as truly, as emphatically, and as author- 
itatively, as if he were to meet us face to face, 
and address us by an audible voice. 

This book has a claim upon your attention on 
account of the important and interesting revela- 
tions it makes of a future state, and the spirit 
world. Without the Bible, all our knowledge of 
the immortality of the soul, and of another 
world, to which the spirit goes at death, would be 
vague and indefinite. The most that the light of 
nature teaches on this subject is at best only a 
probable conjecture. There is implanted in the 
breasts of all men a desire for immortality ; but 
this desire cannot be regarded as very decisive or 



116 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

satisfactory proof of the doctrine. There has 
also been a very general belief among all nations, 
that there is to be another life ; but this does not 
constitute reliable evidence. Analogies are drawn 
from the natural world to prove the resurrection 
and a future state ; but these analogies teach us 
nothing positive, — they only serve to inspire a 
pleasing hope, by showing that such a belief is not 
irrational. The Bible alone draws aside the cur- 
tain, and permits us to see what there is beyond it. 
It solves the great question, "If a man die shall he 
live again?" It brings "life and immortality to 
light" in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It contains 
the history of him who is himself "the resurrec- 
tion and the life," and has become "the first fruits 
of them that slept " ; so that now all doubt is 
dissipated. Man is no longer left to conjecture 
as to the fact of a spiritual state. It has been 
demonstrated by the resurrection of Christ. 
This is the important hinge on which the whole 
of this doctrine turns. If Christ had not risen, 
the world would have gone on in darkness, doubt, 
and ignorance as before ; but that Christ rose, we 
have the most full, satisfactory, and convincing 
and well-substantiated account in the New Testa- 
ment, and in his resurrection we have a sure 
pledge of our own. 

The Bible has a claim upon your attention from 
the circumstance that it contains God's law to man. 



STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 117 

— the rule by which our conduct is to be gov- 
erned in all the relations and circumstances of life. 
God has written his law upon the works of 
nature, but not with great minuteness, and not 
always with sufficient distinctness to enable us 
fully to understand and apply it. In the Bible, 
he has republished that law with great perspi- 
cuity and precision, so that " he who runs may read 
it, and a wayfaring man though a fool, need not 
err therein." He has here carefully delineated 
our duties to him, to our fellow-men, and to our- 
selves, so that now none need be in serious doubt 
in regard to any important duty. It was this law 
which so much delighted the pious David, the ex- 
cellency of which he sung in such varied and 
beautiful strains in the 119th Psalm. "I will speak 
of thy testimonies," says he, "before kings, and 
will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself 
in thy commandments, which I have loved. My 
hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments 
which I have loved, and I will meditate in thy 
statutes. Thy testimonies have I taken as a heri- 
tage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my 
heart." To this law God will hold us to a strict 
account, and by it are we to be judged in the day 
of final reckoning. This is that by which "a 
young man" is to "cleanse his way." It is our 
sure guide, and our only sure guide through all 
the dangerous, deceitful paths of human life. 



118 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

The Bible has a claim upon your attention be- 
cause of the light it sheds upon the destiny of man. 
I have already said that the Bible teaches man's 
immortality, — that there is a life beyond the grave. 
It goes further, and instructs us what that life is to 
be. It lays open to our view the future world, and 
discloses to us infinite eternal joys, which will be 
the blessed inheritance of those who keep the 
commandments of God; and also the darkness, 
despair, and woes unutterable which will be the 
dreadful portion of those who know not God, and 
obey not his laws. It paints for our inspection, 
in the most glowing colors, the beauties of the 
New Jerusalem, the city of our God, filled with 
delights, and adorned as a bride is adorned for 
her husband. This city is the dwelling-place of 
God, and is to be the eternal dwelling-place of all 
his children. It is where the Godhead unveils 
himself, and reveals his glories to the admiring 
view of all his delighted worshipers. We 
should know but little, indeed we should know 
nothing about heaven, were it not for the reve- 
lations made of it by the sacred scriptures. This 
book uncovers also the bottomless pit, and per- 
mits us to hear the weeping and wailing which 
come up from thence, and discloses to our view 
the fire, and the worm, and the blackness of dark- 
ness, and the w smoke of torment which ascendeth 
up forever and ever ! " One or the other of these 



STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 119 

worlds, the Bible teaches us, is to be the final des- 
tiny of us all. The soul, the immortality of which 
it brings to view, is to be rendered happy in the 
unspeakable joys of heaven, or it is to be ren- 
dered infinitely and eternally miserable in the 
world of woe ! Surely a book must be deserving 
of our attention which treats of such themes, and 
opens to us such scenes in the future. 

The Bible has a claim upon your attention be- 
cause it points the way that leads to heaven. It 
reveals the natural character of man as a sinner, 
and the relations he sustains to God, wiiom he has 
offended, and whose laws he has broken. We 
are all "by nature children of wrath," and are 
justly exposed to that doom which is so vividly 
described in the scriptures, as the portion of the 
wicked. A way has been provided for our for- 
giveness. Christ has interposed in our behalf. 
He has become our Mediator. He has shed his 
blood to wash away our sins and reconcile us to 
God; and he is now our Advocate on high. He 
invites us to come to him, with assurances of our re- 
ceiving pardon and eternal life. God can be just, 
and yet merciful through Christ ; and in this way 
alone. For Jesus' sake he will remember our 
iniquities no more, and blot them out of his book. 
He will remit to us the penalty of his law which 
we had incurred, transfer our names to the book 
of life, and grant us a title to the heavenly inher- 



120 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

itance. Here is a glorious plan of salvation, de- 
vised by infinite wisdom, and executed by infinite 
love, and absolutely essential to our happiness. 
But how are we made acquainted with this plan? 
How are we to understand its provisions, and the 
way in which we may avail ourselves of the bene- 
fits of this great, this wonderful salvation? It is 
only by studying the Bible. This book alone 
contains the history of redemption. It is here 
only that we learn the way to be saved. It is in 
this blessed book that we are made acquainted 
with the nature, character, and work of Christ, and 
read the history of his cross, and the place it 
occupies in God's economy of grace. Not only 
do the scriptures teach us in regard to the way in 
which justice and mercy are reconciled in Christ, 
so that God can forgive sin without in the least 
compromising the honor of his law and his truth ; 
but they teach us what we must do, as the condi- 
tion of our personal interest in the atonement. 
We are taught how our hearts may be renewed 
by the Holy Spirit, and how that, by repentance 
and faith, we may be made partakers of the grace 
of God, and be washed in the blood of his Son. 

The Bible has a claim upon your attention on 
account of the sources of comfort, support, and con- 
solation it opens to us amid all the troublous 
scenes of life. There are no trials or afflictions 
so great, or so peculiar, but we may find consola- 



STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 121 

tion in this blessed book. Here are words of kind 
and affectionate sympathy for every heart-broken 
and stricken soul, — they are the words of a ten- 
der parent, who is never unmindful of the wants 
of his children, or unaffected by their woes.' 
What a comfort was the word of God to David in 
his trials : "Unless thy law had been my delight," 
says he, rf I should then have perished in mine afflic- 
tion." r ' Trouble and anguish have taken hold on 
me, yet thy commandments are my delight." And 
similar to his is the experience of every saint. 
The Bible is a well-spring of consolation to the 
child of sorrow, whence he can draw living 
water. 

Such being the claims of the Bible upon your 
attention, my young friends, let me earnestly exhort 
you to read and study it with a great deal of care. 
It is the very last book that you should permit to 
remain on your shelf till the dust accumulates 
upon its covers. We should naturally suppose that 
the Bible, from the very nature of the subjects of 
which it treats, and the source from which it 
comes, would be the first book sought after by every 
rational being, and the very last book that would be 
laid aside and forgotten. But exactly the reverse 
of this is true. The Bible is the most shamefully 
neglected book that was ever published. There 
are many persons who do not open it as often as 
once a week, and some who do not read a chapter 



122 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

in it once a month, and some even who do not look 
into it once a year ! Strange, that persons making 
a journey through a dark, blind, dangerous wil- 
derness, where there are so many gins to entrap 
their feet, and so many by-paths looking fair and 
promising, to lure them out of the way and land 
them in destruction, where there are so many peril- 
ous and difficult passes, where there are so many 
enemies and false guides, — strange, I say, that 
any persons making this important and hazardous 
journey, should be so negligent in consulting 
their guide-book ! Even Christians, those who 
have tasted the sweets of the waters which flow 
from this well-spring of life, too often neglect this 
fountain, and seek to slake their thirst at broken 
cisterns and turbid streams. Let me persuade you, 
my young friends, to make yourselves very familiar 
with the Bible. Never, on any account, let a day 
pass over you without your consulting its pages. 
Make it your constant companion and counsellor. 
It will befriend you in every emergency. It will 
shed light upon your path, and make it look plain 
and cheerful, however dark and dreary may be 
your way. Although you may not always find 
specific instructions and directions to apply to all 
possible circumstances, yet you will find principles 
laid down there, which, if carried out, will em- 
brace every contingency. Whenever, therefore, 
you are in doubt respecting the way you ought 



STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 123 

to go. betake yourselves to the word of God. It 
will be to you, as it was to David, "a lamp unto 
your feet, and a light unto your path.*' 

I shall conclude this chapter by suggesting a 
few hints in regard to the manner in which you' 
should study the Bible. 

1. Eead it habitually \ I have already said that 
reading the Bible should be with you a daily exer- 
cise. Let it be a companion of your closet. 
When you retire to speak to God, take your Bible 
in your hand, and first let him speak to you. It 
will serve to compose your mind, arrest the cur- 
rent of worldly thoughts, and prepare the heart 
for holding intercourse with its Maker. It may 
not be most profitable for you to read a very large 
portion of Scripture when you retire for devotion. 
A single chapter, and sometimes a part of a chap- 
ter in the Xew Testament, or in the devotional 
parts of the Old Testament, will afford you ample 
materials for meditation and thought, before you 
bend the knee in prayer. But I would by all 
means have you in the habit of reading some por- 
tion of the Holy Scriptures daily in your closets. 
I do not believe that you will long maintain the 
spirit of prayer without doing so. 

2. Bead your Bibles systematically. You should 
take other occasions to read your Bibles besides 
when you retire for devotion. You should study 
your Bibles as well as read them ; i.e., you should 



124 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

read with a great deal of care ; try to get at the 
exact meaning by comparing scripture with scrip- 
ture, and by consulting judicious commentaries. 
It would be well to take up some particular book, 
for instance the book of Genesis, and give it your 
special attention. And then the book of Exodus, 
and so on in course. By carefully examining a 
portion of scripture every day, you will, at the 
end of a year, have accomplished a great deal. 

3. Eead your Bibles with a teachable disposition. 
Come to this sacred volume with a sense of your 
ignorance, and need of divine illumination. Come 
with a determination to " hear what God the Lord 
will speak; " "as new-born babes, desire the sin- 
cere milk of the word, that ye may grow there- 
by." Let not the natural pride of the heart rise 
up and sit in judgment upon God's truth, approv- 
ing this portion of it, but condemning that, 
because it does not square with your preconceived 
opinions ; but as Mary came and sat at the feet of 
Jesus, to drink in his words, and to be taught of 
him, so do you come in the same spirit to the 
same Saviour, and receive his words as recorded 
in the Bible by the pen of inspiration. 

4. Eead your Bible seriously. Do not trifle 
with the sacred oracles, or read them carelessly 
as you would read an almanac or a newspaper. 
Eemember that this is God's truth, and that he is 
speaking to you ; and to treat his word with levity, 



STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 125 

or to read it in a careless, indifferent manner, is a 
species of profanity the sinfulness of which is 
little, if any, less than the taking of his name in 
vain. 

5. Read your Bibles prayerfully. Ask the 
assistance of the Holy Spirit that you may be 
guided into all truth, for he it is that taketh of 
the things of God, and showeth them unto man. 
It was David's constant prayer, "teach me thy 
statutes." Ever let it be yours. Your mind* are 
dark, and they of themselves cannot see or com- 
prehend the things of God. Ask God to en- 
lighten them. Your hearts are hard, and cannot 
or will not receive God's truth, even if you under- 
stand it. Ask God to soften them, that you may 
be enabled to receive the engrafted word. A 
little child in a prayerful frame of mind, and 
under the teachings of God's Spirit, will under- 
stand more of the Bible, in its practical sense, than 
the greatest philosopher can do, left to his own 
unaided reason. Therefore, when you take j'our 
Bible in your hands to read or study it, let your 
heart first ascend up to God in the petition, 
" Lord, guide me into all truth." 

Lastly. Read the Bible practically. The Bible 
was given to mankind as a practical book, not as 
a book of theories for speculation. It is full of 
plain, practical instructions, addressed to the 
common-sense of plain, unlettered men, as well 



126 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

as to the profound scholar, to influence them in 
their conduct, to make them virtuous and holy. 
You should therefore determine that you will do 
as well as learn the will of God. David was a 
practical student of God's truth, and he left an 
example for your imitation. It will be of little 
use for you to study your Bibles, or to learn your 
duty, if you do not reduce to practice what you 
learn. You are now, my young friends, just 
entering upon the stage of life. Important duties, 
and weighty responsibilities will soon devolve 
upon you. Many dangers lie in your way ; they 
even now surround your path. You will often 
be in doubt what course to pursue, and you will 
want a friend as a counsellor and guide. Such a 
friend you have in God, and he speaks to you 
through the Bible. Bind this volume then to 
your heart. Make it your daily counsellor, and 
consistently follow its teachings, and you cannot 
go astray. It will conduct you safely through all 
life's mazes, and devious and difficult windings, to 
heaven, your rest and eternal home. 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE . 127 



CHAPTER X. 
Self-Knowledge . 

Prove your own selves.— 2 Cor. 13 : 5. 

A FAVORITE maxim of Solon was, "Know 
thyself." Next to a knowledge of God, 
there is no knowledge more important than a 
knowledge of ourselves. Indeed, a certain degree 
of self-knowledge is essential to our saving knowl- 
edge of God. To know ourselves should consti- 
tute a part of our education. Still, there are few 
things persons are more profoundly ignorant of 
than their own characters. But this ignorance is 
not in general suspected by them, even when to 
others it is most palpable. Mankind generally 
think they know all about themselves. Indeed, 
we all do. We never think of going to any neigh- 
bor to ask about our traits of character, intellect- 
ual or moral ; for we think we know better than 
he. And "why should we not?" we say; "we 
have a much better opportunity to examine our- 
selves than he has to examine us ; we can look 
into our own hearts, and he cannot; we have 
constant opportunity to be looking at ourselves, 



128 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

but our neighbor sees us only occasionally ; and 
his observation of us, from the very nature of the 
case, must be superficial." 

Now all this sounds plausibly enough, but 
nevertheless, it is very often true, that our neigh- 
bors, or the community, form a more accurate 
judgment of some of our mental or moral charac- 
teristics than we do ourselves. This remark, 
however, will not apply to the man who is secretly 
a knave or a hypocrite. Such a man is conscious 
that he is playing a double part, and is a villain, 
and his very success in his schemes depends upon 
his putting himself off upon the public for being 
a better man than he is. But in regard to men 
who are not two-sided, and who do not consciously 
and designedly sail under false colors, they do 
not understand themselves, in respect to some of 
their peculiar traits of character, as well as the 
public do. 

Take a few examples. Here is a man whom the 
community have long since voted as close , parsi- 
monious, niggardly ; but he has no suspicion of 
it himself, and you could not offend him more 
readily than to intimate such a thing to him. He 
thinks himself a liberal, noble, public-spirited man. 
Now the public have no such idea at all. They 
notice how many ways he will shift, and turn, and 
prevaricate sometimes, to save a few pennies of a 
tax or assessment, which in honor he ou^ht to 




SELF-KNOWLEDGE . 120 

pay. They notice how he always opposes any 
public improvement, if a small proportion of the 
expense is likely to fall on him ; while his hand is 
always up to vote for anything which he sees will 
be to his benefit, provided others will have to foot 
the bills. They notice how he never gives away 
a cent if he can possibly help it : and when he 
gives away anything, he makes his contribution 
as small as he thinks will answer. They observe 
how he always contrives to get half a cent more 
than the market price for what he has to sell, and 
how he manages to pay half a cent less than the 
market price for what he buys, and he gets the 
half-cent when he makes change, and the public 
write him down a " half-cent man." And the pub- 
lic are right in their judgment : but he has no sus- 
picion that such is his real character : and if 
sometimes it gets to his ears that he is regarded 
as mean and niggardly, he resents it. and con- 
siders himself a slandered and injured man. It 
is because he does not know himself. Here is an- 
other man. whom the public have written down 
as icorldh/~nunded. He is not mean and nig- 
gardly, like the other. He does not descend so 
low ; but it is perfectly obvious to every one. that 
his whole soul is engrossed in making money, and 
that money is his idol — the god. and only god, he 
worships. — and yet he does not know it. Every- 
body else sees it but himself. 



130 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

You may take persons generally, who have an 
unenviable reputation in the community, — the 
proud, the conceited, the unreasonable, the impo- 
lite, the misanthrophic, the lazy, those who are 
busy-bodies and forever meddling with other peo- 
ple's matters, telling tales and stirring up strife, 
and making difficulties among friends and neigh- 
bors, — you take, I say, any of these classes of 
persons, and you will find that, in most cases, they 
are profoundly ignorant of their own peculiar 
traits of character, while everybody else can read 
them as they read a book. Society understands 
these persons. Nobody is blinded but themselves. 

In addressing you, my young friends, on the 
subject of " Self-knowledge," I shall consider, in 
the Jirst place, some of the prominent particulars 
respecting yourselves, in regard to which it is im- 
portant that you should obtain knowledge. 

These particulars embrace your natural, and 
your moral characteristics. 

Your natural characteristics include your talents 
or mental abilities, your dispositions, your tem- 
peraments, your tastes, and your passions. 

These are something born with you ; they are a 
part of your being, and for the existence of which 
you are not responsible. You are responsible 
only for the use or improvement you make of 
them. Still it is of great importance that you 
know with what God has endowed you. When 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE . 131 

a person is set up in business by a friend, he con- 
siders it indispensable, in the first place, that he 
know how much capital he has got to trade with ; 
and what kind of capital it is ; and in what shape. 
God has, so to speak, set each one of you up 
in business in this world; he has given you a 
capital in your mental endowments, and it is 
of great importance that you know what sort of a 
mind you have got. Persons are very much mis- 
taken often in respect to their mental abilities : 
some get the idea that they are remarkably tal- 
ented, great geniuses, when in fact they are not 
one whit above the ordinary level of mankind, 
and perhaps not up to it. Others have such an 
excess of modesty, they very much undervalue 
themselves, and feel that their talents are inade- 
quate to their accomplishing much, if they under- 
take to ; consequently they always stand in the 
background, and leave others to assume responsi- 
bilities which of right belong to them, and which 
they are equally capable of sustaining. It is of 
importance that you think neither too highly, nor 
too lowly of yourselves in this particular, but 
that you estimate yourselves as you really are. 
Your natural dispositions and temperaments, also, 
it is important that you understand. Are you 
easily excited? Is your mind sensitive, — easily 
raised and easily depressed, — • or are you cold and 
phlegmatic? Are you naturally hopeful, or 



132 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

desponding? Are your passions and appetites 
naturally headstrong, so that they need to be held 
in, as with bit and bridle, or are they tame and 
easily controlled? 

It is of equal and even of greater importance, 
that you ascertain your moral characteristics, or 
those conditions and habits of mind which you 
have had an influence in forming, and for which 
you are responsible. 

You have before you one great end and aim in 
life ; you are under the influence of one supreme 
governing purpose, to which all others are subser- 
vient. What is it? It is of the greatest impor- 
tance to know what you are living for. What is 
the secret spring which propels all the moral 
machinery of your being? Do you live to do 
good, or to get good ? Are your motives benevo- 
lent or selfish ? Is it your main purpose to serve 
and glorify God, or to promote your private ends ? 

There are a great many distinct topics which 
come under this head, which are proper subjects of 
inquiry, if you would know yourselves. What 
habits have you formed? Are they good or bad, 
and what is the influence they are exerting upon 
you and others ? What prejudices do you enter- 
tain against this individual or that one, and what 
is the cause of those prejudices ? Have they any 
good foundation? What thoughts do you cherish, 
and in what channel do thev run from hour to 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 133 

hour, and from clay to day? The mind is very 
liable to indulge in vain, foolish, and sinful 
imaginings, and needs to be watched. 

It is important that you ascertain the strength 
of your moral principles. Are they uniformly 
and consistently carried out in your daily inter- 
course with mankind ? You often see a sad defi- 
ciency in others in this respect ; you sometimes 
see a want of strict integrity, truthfulness, honor, 
and fairness, even in some who profess to be gov- 
erned by Christian principle ; and you are both 
pained and disgusted by it. Are you certain that 
others do not see the same in you, at least in 
some degree? Are you certain that you know 
and see yourselves as others see you ? Your dis- 
interestedness, your liberality, your public spirit, 
your kindness, your patience and forbearance 
under injuries, the spirit you manifest under the 
painful dispensations of Providence, are all proper 
topics to come under review when you are seeking 
to know yourselves. 

But there is one point to which I wish to direct 
your particular attention; — it is this. You all 
have your easily besetting sins. Everybody has 
them. There are certain sins which you can be 
much more easily betrayed to the commission 
of than others. These are your weak points. 
The devil knows what they are, and it is here he 
will be most likely to attack you, and where he 



134 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

will be most likely to succeed. It is of the great- 
est importance that you should be sufficiently 
acquainted with yourselves to know what these 
weak points in your character are. Your neigh-, 
bors and companions, doubtless, have discovered 
them long before this. 

Let us consider, in the second general division 
of our subject, some of the reasons why it is im- 
portant that you should acquire a knowledge of 
yourselves. 

1. The first I shall mention is, that you may 
be the better able to choose your path in life, and 
adopt that profession or employment for which 
your talents, tastes, and dispositions qualify you. 
A great many sad and fatal mistakes have been 
committed here for the want of self-knowledge. 
We often hear it said that such a man has " mis- 
taken his calling." The reason was, he did not 
understand enough about himself to know for what 
calling he was fitted. It is not every man that is 
calculated for a minister, or a doctor, or a lawyer. 
There is many a man in each of these professions 
who never ought to have been there, while there 
are many laboring on the farm, or in the shop, 
with whom it would have been well, both for them 
and the communitv, had thev changed places. A 
just appreciation of your own talents, tastes, and 
dispositions, will enable you to decide upon that 
course of life for which you are best fitted, and 
which promises the greatest success. 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 135 

2. Self-knowledge will save you much mortifi- 
cation. You would not then expose yourselves to 
the jeers, laughter, and contempt of the world, as 
persons often do, who, from a conceited notion 
that they have qualifications which they never 
had, have put themselves into a position which 
made them ridiculous. 

3. Self-knowledge will give you self-possession 
when you are in your proper sphere. Knowing 
that you have not undertaken that which is above 
your knowledge or your capacity, there is no 
reason why you should anticipate a failure, and 
you will go forward with a degree of confidence, 
based on a sure foundation, to which the self- 
ignorant man is a stranger. 

4. Self-knowledge will enable you to correct your 
faults. It will discover to you a great many which 
you did not suppose you possessed, and discovery 
is the first step to correction. 

5. Self-knowledge will be likely to promote 
your humility. It certainly will, unless you have 
formed too low an estimate of yourselves, which 
is not likely to be the case. By examining your- 
selves, you will find that you are sadly deficient in 
many things, the fancied possession of which had 
engendered in your bosom no small degree of 
pride. You will find, also, in your characters, 
many positive blemishes, and these discoveries will 
furnish abundant ground for humilitv and self- 
abasement. 



136 PASTOR'S COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHPJSTIANS. 

6. Self-knowledge will, if you are Christians, 
give -you facilities for graving in grace. You 
will thus be enabled to see wherein you come 
short of your duty, in what respects your con- 
duct is inconsistent with your profession, what 
parts of your Christian character are wanting 
and need culture, what sinful habits you have 
which need to be broken off. This knowledge 
will enable you to correct your errors, improve 
your deficiencies, place a double guard on all 
your weak points, and to see how much you 
need Divine grace to -help your infirmities. If 
you are faithful to yourselves, you will turn all 
this knowledge which 3 r ou gain of yourselves, to 
your spiritual improvement. 

7. Once more, it is only by a knowledge 
of yourselves that you will be able to have 
any comfortable assurance of your eternal salva- 
tion. 

If you are ignorant of the state of your own 
hearts, ignorant of the fact whether you love and 
serve the god of this world better than you do 
Jehovah, how can there be anything but uncer- 
tainty hanging over your future prospects? As 
you value, therefore, a good and comforting hope 
of heaven, my young friends, know your own 
selves. 

I shall conclude by mentioning, in the third 
place, how this self-knowledge is to be obtained. 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 137 

And here I would say, it is not to be obtained, 
as some suppose it is, by going to a phrenologist 
and getting him to examine your head, and then 
write down your traits of character, as he finds 
this or that bump on your cranium developed. 
Whatever may be the uses of phrenology, this is 
not one of them. But self-knowledge is to be 
obtained 

1. First, by a laborious, careful, persevering 
scrutiny of yourselves. You are to study your- 
selves as you would study a book, only with a 
great deal more industry and particularity. Look 
at your conduct with an impartial eye, as others 
look at it. Carefully scan your motives for what 
you do. It is the motive from which you perform 
your actions, much more than the actions them- 
selves, that determines your character. Examine 
the bent of your inclinations, the prevailing cur- 
rent of your thoughts, the drift of your conversa- 
tion, the main object of your pursuit. Often 
test the moral virtues which you think you pos- 
sess by the unerring standard of God's word. 
Inquire into your integrity in your dealings with 
your fellow-men, your honor, and your truthful- 
ness in your intercourse with them. Inquire, 
also, as in the presence of God, and with eternity 
in view, into the sincerity of your faith and re- 
pentance, and whether all the Christian graces are 
in you and abound. Your examination must be 
deep, persevering, and thorough. 



138 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

2. Secondly, you should pay a degree of defer- 
ence to the opinions which others may have formed 
respecting you. I would bj^ no means advise you 
to be running about town to ascertain what this or 
that man or woman thinks of you ; but if it should 
come to your ears that you have a reputation in 
the community for littleness, for parsimony, for 
worldly-mindedness, for want of integrity or 
veracity, or for gossiping and going about as 
busy-bodies, intermeddling with other men's mat- 
ters which do not concern you, or should the 
community pronounce an unfavorable verdict 
upon you in regard to any of the moral vir- 
tues, — instead of being angry about it and resent- 
ing it, as you will be strongly tempted to do, it 
would be far better for you to suspect there must 
be some truth in that verdict. The public don't 
pass judgment on a person for nothing. There 
is almost always some foundation for the opinion 
they form of a man, whether that opinion be good 
or bad. At any rate, you should make public 
sentiment an occasion for obtaining a more ac- 
curate knowledge of yourselves ; and in forming 
your own judgment, the judgment of the public 
must be taken into the account. 

3. Thirdly, look to God for the enlightening 
influences of his Holy Spirit. It is so difficult 
for us to get a perfect knowledge of ourselves, 
we shall never do it without God's help. David 



SELF-KXO WLEDGE . 139 

says, "Who can understand his errors?" And 
then feeling the need of Divine guidance and 
aid in this matter, he offers the prayer, " Search 
me, O God, and know my heart ; try me and 
know my thoughts, and see if there be any 
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way ever- 
lasting." It is in the same way, my young 
friends, that you will, if ever, obtain a perfect, 
or even a satisfactory self-knowledge. You must 
have God to help you by his Spirit, and his aid 
must be sought after by humble, fervent prayer. 
He alone can light up the dark recesses of your 
hearts, so that you can look within, and see what 
has hitherto lain there concealed from your view. 
God knows all about you. and if you will go to 
him in earnest prayer, desiring him to search you, 
and try you, and reveal you to your own selves, 
he will do it, and you may rely with implicit 
confidence on his heavenly teachings. 



140 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTER XI. 
Christian Progress. 

I press toward the mark. — Phil. 3 : 14. 

MANY persons seem to mistake the object of 
conversion. We should suppose from the 
course they pursue, and the interest, or rather 
the want of interest they manifest in a religious, 
godly life, that religion was with them nothing 
but a prudential matter, and designed merely to 
save the soul from future misery. Hence, if 
they have a comforting hope that they shall be 
saved, the great end of becoming religious is 
answered, and they give themselves but little 
concern farther on the subject. Sometimes, in- 
deed, they will wake up from the state of entire 
apathy and worldliness into which they had fallen, 
and for awhile manifest a considerable degree of 
solicitude and interest in regard to serious things. 
But it is obvious that their solicitude and interest 
arise from an apprehension that they themselves 
may not be safe : they fear that their conversion 
may prove not to have been genuine, and they 
may lose their souls after all ; and their great 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 141 

solicitude is to make their salvation sure. If they 
can be fully satisfied of this, it is the most they 
want. Such persons have a very low and inade- 
quate idea of the nature of true piety and its 
object. The religion of the gospel (and that is 
the only religion which is of the least value) is 
not thus selfish. To be sure, it has reference to 
the salvation of the soul from hell ; and no doubt 
but a desire to be saved, is generally the first 
motive that prompts the sinner to give his atten- 
tion to the subject. But when his eyes are fully 
opened, and his heart is changed, he has more 
enlarged views ; he in a great measure loses sight 
of himself, in his love to God and desire for the 
promotion of his glory. 

The real object of the sinner's conversion in the 
mind of God is twofold : first, God's own glory ; 
secondly, the sinner's personal good in being 
rescued from eternal death, and made an heir to 
immortal blessedness in heaven. Those who look 
no farther than the last, who have reference to 
nothing but to getting to heaven, will probably 
fail of their object. The sum and substance of 
all goodness, either in God or man, is benevo- 
lence; and where this is wanting, there can be no 
piety. True benevolence in man has for its first 
and great object the glory of God; and the con- 
sideration of reward and personal good, conies in 
afterward, and is altogether subordinate. Hence 



142 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

the Christian's work is only begun when he es- 
pouses the cause of Christ, and connects himself 
with his Church. He merely enters upon the 
great business of life, — the great end for which he 
was created, and for which Divine grace has con- 
verted him ; and that business is to glorify God. 
An honest, conscientious, diligent youth, who 
apprentices himself to a master to learn a trade, 
does not feel that he has accomplished his object 
when he signs his indentures, and enters upon ser- 
vice. He begins as a novice ; he has a great deal 
to learn, and a great deal to do ; and were he to 
make no attempt to learn or do anything, he had 
better by far have remained at home, for he would 
be of no service to his master, nor secure any 
good to himself. The young Christian, when he 
espouses the cause of Christ and enters his service 
is, as it were, only a novice ; he has as yet done 
nothing for his Master. He has only entered into 
a solemn engagement to serve him faithfully until 
death. At the commencement of this service he 
has had no experience, and has but little knowl- 
edge. He enters as a learner, and it is expected 
of him that he will make great improvement, and 
it is indispensable that he should, if he would be 
of any essential benefit to the Master to whom he 
has consecrated himself. The professed Christian 
who makes no progress, and does not expect to 
make any, had better never have entered the 
Church, or entertained any hope. 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 143 

I would, therefore, in this chapter, urge upon 
the consideration of my young friends who indulge 
the hope that they are the disciples of Christ, the 
subject of Christian Progress. 

I shall first explain what is to be understood 
by Christian progress. 

Secondly, give some directions how it is to be 
made ; and conclude 

By urging some motives for making it. 

1. I am in the first place, to explain what we 
are to understand by Christian progress. 

And I would observe, it does not consist in 
making a public profession of religion by joining 
the Church and associating with the people of 
God. It were an easy matter to make advances 
in the Divine life if this were all. To join the 
Church is undoubtedly the duty of every Chris- 
tian, and it is a means which God has provided 
to aid his people in their efforts to improve in 
Christian character ; but the act itself does not 
constitute that improvement, nor does Church 
relation necessarily imply it. There are multi- 
tudes within the pale of the Visible Church who 
have never been, and who never will be, one whit 
the better for it. 

Xor does Christian progress consist in attend- 
ing to the external forms of religion. Forms are 
good in their place, and we cannot well do with- 
out them. They are auxiliary to devotion and 



c 



144 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

spirituality ; but they of themselves do not con- 
stitute piety. There are multitudes who are very, 
punctilious in their observance of forms, but who 
are entirely destitute of the Christian spirit. A 
man may be a very good formalist, while he is a 
very poor Christian, and, indeed, no Christian at 
all. 

Nor does Christian progress consist in culti- 
vating one particular grace to the neglect of all 
the rest. Nor by waking up occasionally to a 
sense of duty and making a few zealous, spas- 
modic efforts in the cause of Christ, to be suc- 
ceeded by a long interval of sloth and inaction. 
A healthy growth in piety is not thus fitful. I do 
not say but that there may be some Christian 
progress where there is some want of uniformity 
and consistency on the part of professors ; but 
there is not a full, healthy development of Chris- 
tian character in its symmetrical and beautiful 
proportions. 

But I would say, affirmatively, that Christian 
progress, as it should be, consists in a steady > 
uniform , constant increase of all the Christian 
graces, cultivated in the heart and developed in the 
life. The apostle Peter gives us a clear and com- 
prehensive idea of what it implies in the first chap- 
ter of his second epistle. Says he, " Add to your 
faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowl- 
edge temperance, and to temperance patience, and 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 145 

to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly 
kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity." You 
see here the foundation or starting point of Chris- 
tian progress is Faith . This is presupposed. Faith 
in Christ lies at the foundation of all piety. With- 
out it. there can be nothing to build upon. As 
well might we expect a stalk of corn or wheat to 
spring up and bear fruit without a kernel or 
grain at the root to stain: it. as to expect the vari- 
ous Christian graces to spring up in the heart, and 
be developed to maturity, without faith. " With- 
out faith it is impossible to please God." or exer- 
cise one good feeling, or perform one right action. 
Hence the apostle does not say to Christians if 
they would improve in character they must have 
faith, for this he take- for granted — they have that 
already, or they cannot be Christians ; but pre- 
supposing the existence of faith, he goes on to tell 
them what they must add to it if they would 
make progress. And first he mentions " virtue." 
"Add to your faith virtue." The word translated 
virtue in this connection, has a meaning a little 
different from that usually attached to it. By 
virtue, we usually understand goodness in general. 
Here it has the meaning of the original word from 
which it is derived: viz., courage and fortitude. 
And this is es.-ential to every Christian, It was 
peculiarly so in the time of the apostle-. The 
earlv Christians were called to endure the most 



146 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

violent opposition and persecution, often unto 
death ; and it required no small degree of courage 
to stand up in presence of their foes and declare 
themselves for Christ, and calmly look the king 
of terrors in the face. The situation of Christians 
in our times is different. We are not in danger 
of bodily harm on account of our faith ; but we 
live in the same wicked world, and have to en- 
counter the same enmity of the wicked heart to 
holiness, and it sometimes requires as much forti- 
tude to encounter a sneer, or smile of contempt, 
(which we shall be sure to meet with, if we are 
true to our Master) as to endure open persecu- 
tion. Hence every Christian needs to add to his 
faith courage, — courage to profess Christ ; courage 
to bear testimony for Christ ; courage to take a 
decided stand for Christ in all circumstances, and 
in all kinds of company ; courage to speak, and 
courage to pray in presence of others when duty 
calls, without fearing the face of man. Many 
Christians fail of making any progress in religion 
for want of courage. 

To virtue or courage is to be added " knowl- 
edge ." A more perfect knowledge of God, of 
ourselves, of the Bible, of the path of duty, of the 
wiles of the adversary, and of the means we should 
employ for the advancement of the Redeemers 
kingdom. The Christian should be well versed 
both in the doctrines, and duties of religion. He 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 147 

often fails to accomplish as much as he might, 
because of his ignorance of what religion requires. 
We can make no advance in any trade or profes 
sion in life, without a knowledge of the theory of 
that trade, and of its practical application. Much 
less can we in religion. The Christian should* 
always be a learner. There is a vast field lying 
open before him, and he should never let a day 
pass without his adding something to his stock of 
religious knowledge. The Bible is a rich, an in- 
exhaustible store-house of truth, from which we 
can draw at all times : so that ignorance, especially 
of the practical part of Christianity, is wholly 
without excuse. We should derive wisdom from 
our observation and experience. We should look 
back upon our shortcomings, and our transgres- 
sions, and inquire into the cause of them, and 
learn a lesson for the future. We should make a 
note wherein we or others have succeeded in any- 
thing good, and pursue the same course again. 
Great learning in the sciences is by no means 
essential to piety, or to growth in piety ; but such 
knowledge as the Bible and the Holy Ghost teach, 
is essential, and that may be obtained hy any one 
who can pray and read. 

To knowledge, we are to add "temperance" 
We are to use with moderation all the good things 
God has given us in his providence. We should 
be temperate in our eating, and in our drinking, 



148 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

in our labors and in our recreations, in our mirth 
and in our grief, in our anticipation of worldly 
good, and in our fears of temporal calamity ; we 
should be temperate in the exercise of all our 
desires, appetites, and passions. An inordinate 
desire of any temporal good, and an unrestrained 
indulgence in any enjoyment, however innocent 
and lawful it may be in itself, is incompatible with 
any great advancement in Christian character. 

To this the apostle enjoins "patience" For this 
grace there will be constant demand as long as we 
live in this world. There is a great deal here to 
irritate us, to vex us, and try our tempers ; and 
there is much severe suffering, both of body 
and of mind, all of which must be endured meekly, 
patiently, and without a murmur. It is " through 
much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of 
heaven," and it is this tribulation which requires 
the exercise of patience. There is a striking re- 
lation between "patience," and "temperance;" 
one requiring us to hold ourselves in check when in 
the enjoyment of good, and the other requiring us 
to hold our feelings and passions in check when 
suffering evil. It has been for the want of pa- 
tience in the endurance of the greater or lesser ills 
of life, that many a Christian has stumbled and 
fallen. It is in patience we must possess our 
souls, and "run the race which is set before us." 

To patience we are to add "godliness " God- 



CHKISTIAJSr PROGRESS. 149 

liness, in its primary sense, means the same thing 
as piety, and is a comprehensive term, including 
all the Christian graces which the apostle here 
enumerates. In this connection, it means hot 
merely that we should be pious, for this is all 
along implied, but that we should cultivate habit- 
ually a devout, godly state of mind, that God 
should be in ail our thoughts, and that we should 
have reference to his will in all we do. 

And to godliness, or right affections of the heart 
toward God, we are to add, "brotherly kindness," 
an affectionate interest in our brethren, a love for 
them, a readiness to befriend them at all times, 
and a promptness to do them all the good in our 
power. 

And to crown the whole, we are to add "char- 
ity." This means universal benevolence — love to 
God and love to man— universal good will. When 
this grace is superadded to all the rest, in its fulness 
and perfection, the character would be complete. 

This, my friends, is what we are to understand 
by Christian progress, — a continual advancement 
in the divine life, adding one Christian grace to 
another, after the manner here indicated by the 
apostle, until charity or universal benevolence 
shall pervade the soul, and overshadow and con- 
trol everything else. It is to this that you must 
constantly aim. A Christian who does this is a 
growing Christian ; he is gaining self-control, be- 



150 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

coming weaned from the world, triumphing over 
sin and Satan, and ripening for heaven. He is 
like a man on a journey, diligently urging his way 
forward, so that at the close of every day he per- 
ceives that he is considerably farther from his 
starting-point and nearer to his journey's end 
than he was in the morning. 

Having explained what we are to understand by 
Christian progress, I shall now proceed to give 
you some directions, my young friends, how you 
may make this progress. 

1. I would say in the first place, it will require 
great, diligent, persevering effort. The apostle pre- 
faces the passage which we have been considering 
by the words, "giving all diligence," add to your 
faith all these Christian virtues. It is not an easy 
matter to make progress in our heavenly journey. 
It requires an agonizing strife to enter the strait 
gate, and not much less to persevere, and make 
progress afterward. There are a great many 
"Hills Difficulty "to ascend, and "By-path Mead- 
ows" to pass, and lions and giants and apostates 
and devils to encounter. Any one of these will 
arrest your course, unless you are very diligent, 
courageous, and persevering. Your way to heaven 
is much like that of a person going up a very steep 
hill covered with a glare of ice. He must make 
great effort, and exercise great diligence and care, 
not only to make any progress, but even to retain 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 151 

what he gains. A little want of vigilance will 
cause him to lose his foothold, and he will slide 
back clear to the bottom of the hill. I would, 
therefore, my friends, have it deeply impressed 
upon your minds, at the very outset of your 
Christian course, that you will accomplish nothing 
without great diligence and effort. 

2. You must keep a strict and regular account 
with yourselves. You should know where you are, 
whether you have made any progress, and how 
much. A traveler who has a long journey before 
him, does not go a great way before ascertain- 
ing how much distance he has traveled. He is 
often on the lookout for milestones, or something 
else, which will indicate whether he is on the right 
road, and is making suitable progress in it. Thus 
should the Christian be often taking observations 
to see if he is in the straight and narrow path, 
and to ascertain what advance he has made in his 
heavenly pilgrimage. And this is learned, not 
by looking without, but by looking within ; by 
examining the temper and disposition of the 
mind, the current of the thoughts, the prevailing 
desires, the chief object of the affections. You 
should, my friends, take up each one of the 
Christian virtues separately, and inquire diligently 
and faithfully whether any traces of them can be 
found in the soul ; and if so, to what extent. 
You will thus find out what grace is wanting 



152 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

and must be supplied, and what one is weak and 
needs extra culture. 

3. You should carefully watch against tempta- 
tion. Eemember that the natural bias of your 
hearts is to evil. The adversary is well aware of 
this fact, and will take advantage of it in every 
possible way. He will assail you on this side, and 
on that ; sometimes appealing to one passion, and 
then to another ; often covering up the deformity of 
sin by the robe of virtue, in a way very likely to 
deceive }^ou, unless you are strictly on your guard. 
The world with its ten thousand allurements will 
solicit your attention, and entice you with its 
vanities. Worldly companions will seek to divert 
you from that straight and narrow path, to go a little 
way, " only a little way," with them in the broad 
road, telling you that you can easily forsake it at 
any time if you do not like it. Temptations in 
great numbers, and in great variety, are scattered 
thick all along your path in life, and it will be 
necessary for you to be constantly on your guard, 
lest you be betrayed into sin before you are aware 
of it, and lose more ground by one misstep, than 
you can regain for months, and perhaps for years. 

4. You should faithfully and uniformly use all 
the means God has given you to help you on your 
way, and enable you to cultivate all the heavenly 
graces. He has given you the Bible, a sure and 
safe guide. Make it your constant companion, 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 153 

consult it carefully and constantly. It will be a 
faithful counsellor in your difficulties and dangers, 
and a light to you in your darkness. 

You enjoy the privilege of Christian intercourse, 
social meetings, and public worship : and more 
than all. the privilege of holding private inter- 
course with God in your closets. These are all 
great and precious privileges, and are admirably 
adapted to strengthen you. and assist you on your 
way to heaven. Prayer, especially, is the most 
efficient means which you can employ as an aux- 
iliary in your heavenly pilgrimage. In prayer 
you go directly to Hini who is the source of all 
light, and all strength, and He has promised to 
hear you and answer you. He will have compas- 
sion on your weakness, and let you lean upon His 
arm for support. He is aware of your blindness, 
and will take you by the hand and lead you. He 
knows your dangers, and will throw around you 
His shield for protect! en. and will say to your foes, 
"Touch not mine anointed, and do my children no 
harm." He is acquainted with your fears, and 
will say to you. "Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither be afraid, for I am with you. and will 
never leave you nor forsake you." All this, and 
a great deal more, God will do for you. and will 
help you in every way you need, to make progress 
toward your heavenly home, if you will but look 
to him in earnest prayer, and with childlike sim- 



154 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

plicity and confidence, cast yourselves upon his 
almighty arm, and rely upon his grace and 
strength. Do this, and he will enable you to 
f? mount up with wings as eagles, to run and not 
be weary, to walk and not faint." 

I shall conclude by urging upon you, very 
briefly, a few motives to Christian progress. 

1. The evidence you will have of your union to 
Christ, and friendship with God, and title to 
heaven, will depend very much upon your progress 
in the Divine life. It is only those who follow on 
to know the Lord, and do his will, that have any 
right to call themselves his children. That pro- 
fessor who remains stationary, or falls back in his 
heavenly way, should at once begin to call in 
question the genuineness of his hope. As you 
value then a cheering, comforting hope of heaven, 
and the favor of God, let me urge you to be con- 
tinually making progress and adding to your 
Christian graces. 

2. By making progress in religion you will 
enhance your present happiness. Your experience 
has taught you already, if you are true disciples, 
that there is more real enjoyment in religion than 
there is in anything else. And you may be 
assured that the amount of your happiness will be 
in direct proportion to the degree of your piety, 
your conformity to Christ, and perfection in all 
the graces of the Spirit. 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS, 155 

3. It is only by making progress that you can 
hope to be extensively useful. It is the heavenly- 
minded Christian only, he who adorns his profes- 
sion, who grows in grace, who tramples the world 
under his feet, and w follows on" to know and 
serve the Lord, that has any great influence, as a 
Christian, over this wicked world. The consistent 
Christian (and none but a growing Christian is 
consistent,) is respected by the ungodly. They 
will listen to what he says, and will be influenced 
by it, while they will scorn that professor who 
lives as they do, and will treat with contempt any 
efforts he may put forth for their spiritual good. 

Lastly, by making progress in religion you will 
honor God. You will be constant living witnesses 
to the excellency of his gospel, and the power of 
his grace, and through your daily walk, men will 
be led to "glorify your Father which is in 
heaven." 



156 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTEE XII. 
The Christian in Prosperity. 

And in my prosperity I said, "I shall never be moved." 
— Ps. 30 : 6. 

r\AVID was a man of large and varied experi- 
J— * ence. There are few phases of human life 
with which he was not familiar. His origin was 
humble. He was the youngest of a large family, 
who moved in the common walks of life, and his 
occupation was to keep his father's sheep. Al- 
though he was a retired country boy, he early 
cultivated a taste for music and poetry. By some 
means he procured a harp, and became so skillful 
a performer as to attract the attention of the whole 
community. His skill in music was the occasion 
of his being brought out from his obscurity, and 
introduced at court ; and he became the king's 
chief musician. Prom this time he experienced 
a great many vicissitudes. Sometimes he was 
treated with a great deal of kindness and respect, 
and sometimes he was treated with the greatest 
injustice and cruelty, and was frequently obliged 
to flee and hide himself to save his life. In 



THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 157 

all his troubles he sought the Lord, and the Lord 
remembered and blessed him, and ultimately re- 
moved Saul from the throne of Israel, and placed 
David upon it in his stead. For a considerable 
time after he entered upon public life as king of 
Israel, everything seemed to go on prosperously. 
He was the idol of the people, and popular with 
everybody. He healed dissensions, united old 
opposing factions, and consolidated the nation. 
He was successful in war, commerce flourished 
under his administration, and wealth poured in 
upon him like a flood. His domestic relations 
were all happy, and nothing seemed wanting to 
complete his earthly felicity. 

It was to this period of his life he referred 
when he wrote the words, fr In my prosperity I 
said I shall never be moved." He felt confident 
in his position ; he thought his mountain stood 
strong. And yet he was moved. His very pros- 
perity, in which he confided so strongly, came 
verj^ near proving his ruin. He became voluptu- 
ous and^ self-confident, and, in a measure, lost 
his sense of dependence on God. He let down 
his watch, fell into gross sin, lost his popularity 
with a portion of his subjects, and for awhile 
God forsook and humbled him. The severest 
trials were necessary to lead him to repentance 
and bring him back to God. 

Most persons feel just as David did when they 



158 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

are in prosperous circumstances. They too are 
self-confident, and think they shall never be 
moved. Israel felt so in their prosperity in 
Moses's day. M Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked ; 
then he forsook God which made him, and lightly 
esteemed the rock of his salvation." Like David, 
also, multitudes have found their confidence mis- 
placed, — that their standing was never on so dan- 
gerous and giddy a height as when on the pinnacle 
of prosperity. It is often the case that a person 
is never in so perilous a situation as when he fan- 
cies himself most secure. Prosperity is what all 
men desire, and what all are seeking after. It is 
impossible not to desire it, in the sense in which 
the term is usually understood. Prosperity means, 
success in our efforts to obtain whatever we pur- 
sue, and such a state of present worldly circum- 
stances as we consider desirable. This includes 
most kinds of temporal good, such as the posses- 
sion of an abundance of property, and the means 
of gratifying our tastes and pleasures. It em- 
braces also health, reputation, domestic comforts 
and endearments, honorable and happy friendly 
alliances, success in all our enterprises — in short, 
it includes all kinds of good which mankind re- 
gard as conducive to their temporal happiness. 
By the prosperous, we understand those who are 
so circumstanced in Providence that they can 
command all, or a considerable portion of these 



THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 159 

sources of earthly good. It is not strange, 
therefore, that prosperity is the wish and pur- 
suit of all. And yet, if they realized the dan- 
gers which are attendant upon that state, they 
would pause and tremble as they entered upon 
it. Solomon says, w The prosperity of fools shall 
destroy them/*' It may also be said, that the 
prosperity of wise men sometimes makes them 
fools, and thus prepares the way for their de- 
struction, or at least for their fall. 

In a previous chapter I mentioned some of the 
most prominent dangers that will be very likely 
to assail young Christians in their pathway to 
heaven. The dangers incident to a course of 
prosperity, I deferred to be discussed in a differ- 
ent connection, in order to give them greater 
prominence. TTe will consider them now. TThen 
I speak of dangers, I refer to spiritual dangers, 
those things which will retard the Christian in the 
divine life, destroy his spirituality, and hinder 
him on the way to heaven. 

The first danger I shall mention to which un- 
broken prosperity exposes the Christian, is com- 
plete absorption in worldly things, When a man's 
affairs go right, when his business is prosperous, 
trade is good, his crops are abundant, his barns 
and granaries are full, and when almost every- 
thing he lays his hand upon seems to turn into 
money, then is the time, usually, when his 



160 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

thoughts and his energies are all employed in 
accumulation. He is excited and stimulated by 
his success. While the wind blows fair, he 
spreads all his canvas to the favoring gale. He 
feels that no time is to be lost. Consequently, 
he is tempted to enlarge his business, start new 
schemes, make new investments, and the various 
enterprises in which he is engaged, make new 
demands upon his time and energies, so that he 
cannot find leisure to think of anything else. As 
his prosperity increases, and wealth pours in upon 
him like a flood, he is continually casting about 
him to see what lie shall do with it. There never 
was a time when he had so much to do, and so 
many things to think of, as now. 

As a natural consequence of all this, he is 
strongly tempted to neglect his religious duties, 
because he thinks he has no time to attend to 
them. He reads his Bible less ; he prays in his 
closet less ; he prays in his family less ; he medi- 
tates upon Divine things less ; he attends the 
prayer-meeting less ; until, at length, nearly 
every religious duty is partially or wholly neg- 
lected. His thoughts are all on the world. The 
more he obtains of it, the better he loves it, and 
the more is he engaged to accumulate it. I have 
stated what is not always, but what is very often, 
the result of prosperity, — what its natural tendency 
is. It is a danger to which a Christian is most 



THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 161 

eminently exposed when the world goes well with 
him. Unless he is very watchful, there is a fear- 
ful probability that he will be so much engrossed 
and absorbed in it, that he will neglect, or imper- 
fectly perform, all religious duties, secret, social, 
and public, and almost forget that he has a soul. 

Another danger of prosperity is self-indulgence. 
The natural tendency of the human heart is to 
seek to gratify luxurious tastes, appetites, lusts, 
and passions. Vast multitudes are held in check 
only by the stern hand of necessity. Luxuries 
are expensive, and many a man has been saved 
from ruin because he could not afford to ruin him- 
self. Multitudes of young men have led honor- 
able and virtuous lives w^hile pressed by the hand 
of poverty, but who fell victims to self-indulgence 
as soon as prosperity smiled upon them. Persons 
who have any regard for honesty, will not indulge 
themselves in useless extravagances and effemi- 
nate, corrupting luxuries, if they can do it only 
on other people's money — they have too much 
honor and principle for that ; but let them have 
means at command which they can call their own, 
and they will at once run into all manner of excess 
and dissipation. You recollect the purpose of the 
rich man whose grounds brought forth plentifully. 
He had "much goods laid up for many years," as 
he supposed ; and he deliberately made up his 
mind to give himself over to a life of idleness, 



162 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

luxury, and self-indulgence. He said to himself, 
w Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
years, — eat, drink, and be merry." He never 
thought of pursuing such an ignoble course until 
his prosperity had made him rich. A very large 
proportion of the reveling, extravagance, idle- 
ness, luxury, and dissipation to be found in our 
world can be traced back to prosperity as the first 
exciting cause. 

Another danger of prosperity is self-confidence, 
and a feeling of independence and security. "Is 
not this great Babylon that I have built ? " said 
the proud king, as he looked over the magnificent 
city which in his prosperity and success he had 
raised to be the wonder and admiration of the 
whole earth, — "Is not this great Babylon that 1 
have built for the house of the kingdom by the 
might of my power and for the honor of my 
majesty ? " How strong and self-sufficient his pros- 
perity made him ! Yet it was not long before he 
was turned out to eat grass ! It is only by God's 
blessing that men ever succeed in any enter- 
prises they undertake. All their prosperity is of 
him ; and yet there is no time when they feel 
their dependence so little, and their self-con- 
fidence so much, as when God is doing most for 
them. When did David lose sight of his depen- 
dence on God, and in his fancied security say, " I 
shall never be moved ? " It was not when he was 



THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 163 

tending the sheepfold in the wilderness, encoun- 
tering single-handed the lion and the bear ; it was 
not when he went forth with a stone and a sling- 
to fight Goliath of Gath ; it was not when he was 
driven into the wilderness by the persecution of 
Saul, and obliged to hide himself in thickets, dens, 
and caves ; for then he felt that his strength was 
only in the "living God." But it was when, 
crowned with honors and power, and loaded with 
wealth, he sat upon the throne of Israel. It was 
then he lost sight of his dependence on God, and 
felt confident and secure in himself. The rich 
man in the gospel, to whom I have already al- 
luded, placed his confidence in his prosperity, 
"laid up for many years," to afford him happi- 
ness, and not in God. And it is generally so. 
There is no feeling more likelv to follow or ac- 
company prosperity, than independence and carnal 
security. 

Another danger to which prosperity exposes 
the Christian is pride. If a man's wordly enter- 
prises are crowned with success, and his wealth 
increases, he has the means of making a display, 
in dress, style, and equipage. The poor man, who 
has to labor hard for his daily bread, and can 
command little if any more than a supply for his 
bare necessities, will be likely to keep humble ; he 
has nothing to be proud of, and is consequently 
removed from temptation to this particular sin. 



164 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

But a man who can look over a fine estate, and 
contemplate elegant buildings, beautiful gardens 
and pleasure-grounds, fertile fields, fruitful or- 
chards and vineyards, large and beautiful flocks 
and herds of sheep, cattle, and splendid horses, 
with all their elegant trappings and establish- 
ments glittering with silver and gold, and say to 
himself, "All these are mine, and everybody 
knows that they are mine, — " such a man, I say, 
can hardly fail, without a very large share of the 
grace of God, to feel his heart lifted up with 
pride. There is no sin more natural to the 
human heart than this, and that Christian who can 
live in uninterrupted prosperity, and still keep 
uniformly humble, has made very great attain- 
ments. But the danger which most of all threat- 
ens him who is greatly prospered in life, is 
idolatry. Xot that he will cause to be made an 
image of wood, or of stone, or any other mate- 
rial, and fell down and worship it, and pray to it, 
and offer it oblations. That is the idolatry of 
only ignorant, uncultivated minds, — but the idol- 
atry of which I speak is the idolatry of the 
heart, which consists in placing our supreme 
affections on any object but God. There are 
quite as many idolaters in Christian lands, accord- 
ing to the population, as in heathen. If riches 
increase, it is natural to set our hearts upon them, 
and that is idolatry. Persons do not know how 



THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 165 

hard it is to keep their affections from fastening on 
worldly good, when they have obtained it, — espe- 
cially riches, — until they have made the experi- 
ment. Silver and gold are something that we can 
see and handle, — we can make immediate use of it, 
whenever we will, to procure whatever of good 
this world affords. God is unseen, and it is dif- 
ficult, sometimes, for us to realise his presence, and 
to see his hand in every blessing we enjoy. 
Hence it is a very easy matter, as he is out of sight, 
to leave him out of mind, and to place in his 
stead, the creature comfort she has given us, and 
to make "gold our hope, and to say to the fine 
gold, thou art my confidence." It is very 
strange, but no more strange than true, that the 
more God blesses mankind, and the more he 
prospers them, the less, as a general fact, is he 
thought of and loved, and he looks down with 
grief upon the objects of his constant munificence, 
and sees that they place their hearts upon what 
he gives them, and that they "have other gods 
before him." How many a child of God has al- 
most made shipwreck of his piety, and worshiped 
his property, for no other reason but because 
God had, in his great kindness, prospered him in 
his worldly concerns ! 

Thus you see, my young friends, how dangerous 
is prosperity. And yet, you are all wishing it, — 
and I sincerely wish it for you. But while I wish 



166 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

it, I am filled with anxious forebodings, and 
trembing solicitude, on your account. If I knew 
that God w^ould uniformly bless you in all your 
worldly concerns, I should feel far more solicitude 
for your spirituality, than I should, did I know 
that he would often thwart j^our schemes, blast 
your hopes, and send you disappointment instead 
of success. While, therefore, I wish you prosper- 
ity, it is on the ground that I hope and trust you 
will successfully guard against the dangers of 
which I have spoken, so that prosperity may be 
a blessing and not a curse to you. There is no 
necessity that prosperity should prove disastrous 
to your spiritual interests. 

I shall now give you some hints designed to 
aid you in guarding against the dangers incident 
to prosperity. 

1. In the first place, always bear in mind, that to 
prosper in the affairs of this life is not the main end 
and object of your being. Our observation of man- 
kind would lead us to think it was, if we were to 
judge merely from what we see. But the light 
of nature, the Bible, and our own consciences teach 
us better. If we were to lie down and perish 
with the brutes, then there would be nothing bet- 
ter for us than to " eat and drink and enjoy the 
good of our labors," and to seek with all the ener- 
gies of our souls and bodies, every good which 
this world can bestow. But this world is only the 



THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 167 

threshold of ouf existence. Our home is in the 
future state. ' This world is only the vestibule to 
it, and the great lousiness of life is to prepare for 
what lies beyond. If you will keep this fact con- 
stantly before you, and let it become a living, 
practical principle, it will serve both to moderate 
your excessive anxiety for worldly prosperity, and 
to guard against the dangers which naturally flow 
from it. 

2. Keep in view the uncertainty of worldly 
prosperity, should God give it you. Great, and 
very sudden sometimes, are the changes which 
take place in our wordly circumstances and pros- 
pects. Because things go well with us to-day, is 
no proof they will go the same with us to-mor- 
row. "Riches make to themselves wings, and 
fly away as an eagle toward heaven." It is per- 
fectly easy for God to turn the tide of our pros- 
perity to the deepest adversity. And sometimes he 
does it without giving an hour's warning, and he 
may do it at any time. No prudence or forecast- 
ing of ours can prevent it. What lessons are al- 
most daily taught us, — in conflagrations, cyclones, 
sea and land disasters, to say nothing of financial 
revolutions ! What is true of wealth, is true of 
every form of wordly good that we enjoy ; our 
health, our honors, our popularity, our influence, 
our sensual enjoyments, our friends, and our 
domestic joys and comforts, — everything that 



168 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

lights up this world with smiles, afid which man- 
kind set their hearts upon, God may cut off with a 
stroke. Hence we should desire all sublunary 
good with moderation, and enjoy it " as though 
we possessed it not," for "the fashion of this 
world passeth away," and none of us can tell 
"what shall be on the morrow." A constant sense 
of the entire uncertainty of worldly prosperity, 
can hardly fail, I think, to guard you against those 
dangers which almost always attend it. 

3. Never for a moment lose sight of your 
dependence on God, for the original possession, 
and for the continuance of earthly good. Remem- 
ber that you can procure nothing of yourselves. 
" Except the Lord build the house they labor in 
vain that build it." If God smiles, we prosper; 
if he frowns, we cannot prosper, take whatever 
precautions we may. " The Lord giveth, and the 
Lord taketh away." 

4. Let success in life prompt to a sense of 
deeper obligation, and to a more faithful discharge 
of duty. Instead of letting your mercies be the 
cause of your forgetting God, let them be an occa- 
sion for your remembering him with gratitude and 
love. It was the language of the Psalmist, when 
in a heavenly frame of mind, in view of the 
divine goodness, "What shall I render unto the 
Lord for all his benefits." Let it be your lan- 
guage. Let a sense of God's kindness to you 



THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 169 

prompt you to a more constant filial obedience. 
If God prospers you. be more constant and earn- 
est in prayer, and in studying the scriptures : 
and by all means continue your prompt and 
punctual attendance upon the worship and ordi- 
nances of God's house, the social prayer-meeting, 
and all the means of grace. Who should be 
grateful ? who should be obedient ? who should 
be prayerful ? who should make a special effort to 
lead a godly, righteous, sober, and consistent life, 
if not those whom God has laid under peculiar 
obligations by granting them prosperity ? 

5. Guard against selfishness ^ by practising 
enlarged benevolence in proportion as God pros- 
pers you. It is a melancholy fact, that very few 
Christians increase their contributions to the 
Lord's treasury in proportion to their success in 
life. If their property or their income increases 
annually, ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred per 
cent, they don't think of increasing their liberality 
in the same ratio. A person is usually much more 
liberal, in proportion to his means, when he is 
worth 81,000. than when he is worth §10.000. 
TThen we go to a man worth ten thousand dollars 
to get a contribution to a benevolent object, we 
never expect to get from him as much as we do in 
the aggregate from ten of his neighbors, worth 
only one thousand each. And yet, he can better 
afford it than they, because they have ten families 



170 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

to support, and he has only one ; and besides, he 
has a little capital to fall back upon, in case of 
sickness or disability, and they have not. This is 
more palpably true, in most cases, when a man is 
worth his fifty, or a hundred thousand dollars, and 
more still if he is worth a million. Let me urge 
you to guard against that penuriousness which 
prosperity so unreasonably engenders, by follow- 
ing strictly the apostle's rule : — viz., by laying by 
for God, and sacred purposes, as the Lord pros- 
pers you ; i. e., in the same proportion, and not a 
meagre pittance of that prosperity, as many do. 

6. Bear in mind that you are after all but 
"stewards of God" and that what you receive in 
your prosperity, is only a trust committed to you, 
of which you must give a strict account. The 
ten talents which God enables you to accumulate 
from the one entrusted to you, are all God's talents 
still, and the whole ten will be required at your 
hands by and by. He will not let you embezzle 
nine of them for hoarding, or for lavish and unnec- 
essary expenditure on yourself and family, and 
then call you a "good and faithful servant." 
Ever keep the day of reckoning in view, and I 
think it must exert a favorable influence- toward 
guarding you against the dangers of prosperity. 

7. Often call to mind the solemn and affecting 
truth that you must die. However great and 
however prosperous you may become, and al- 



THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 171 

though no reverses may come upon you, yet the 
time in which you can enjoy your worldly good 
is very brief. God may not say to you this night, 
or this year, "Thy soul shall be required of thee," 
but the time must come when he will say it, — then 
whose shall those things be which were accumla- 
ted in your prosperity ? You can carry none of 
them into the eternal world with you. Ask your- 
selves what advantage will it be to you, when you 
are struo'oling on the bed of death, in conflict 
with man's last enemy, to think that you have 
labored successfully to accumulate the good things 
of this world, all of which must be left behind? 
Worldly prosperity is always uncertain, but at 
death it must surely cease. Who that knows he 
is to live through eternity, would be satisfied with 
a portion which is unsatisfying in its nature, and 
which he must soon leave to he knows not whom? 
In order, therefore, to moderate your elation in 
prosperity, often check yourselves by putting the 
question, K What will all this avail me when I come 
to die?" 

Lastly, keep heaven in view. Contrast earthly 
good, with your better portion. How does every- 
thing pertaining to this world dwindle to nothing, 
when compared to an inheritance in the kingdom 
of heaven ! If we ever get to heaven, with w^hat 
astonishment must we look back, and contemplate 
the anxiety we felt for prospering in the things of 



172 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

this life ! Often think, then, of the glories which 
are hereafter to be revealed, and of the portion 
laid up for you in the skies if you are the real 
children of God ; and then this world, with all its 
attractions, cannot fail to dwindle to its own insig- 
nificance, and you will set lightly by its trifles, 
while your aspirations will be for those joys which 
are unseen and eternal, and which will neyer fade 
away. 



THE CHRISTIAN IN ADVERSITY. 173 



CHAPTER XIII. 
The Christian in Advebsity. 

In the day of adversity consider. — Eccl. 7 : 14. 

THIS is a changing world. There is nothing 
permanent about it. The alternation of day 
and night, sunshine and clouds, the changes of 
the seasons, all the mutations of material things, 
are but emblems of the changes mankind are con- 
stantly experiencing in their circumstances and 
prospects. To-day it is pleasant. The sun shines 
gloriously in the heavens, and "rejoiceth as a 
strong man to run a race." There is not a cloud 
to darken the horizon ; the birds sing sweetly and 
merrily in the trees ; the whole face of nature 
smiles, and all the beings we see, seem joyous and 
happy. But who can tell what, shall be on the 
morrow? Very likely, before then, the heavens 
may gather blackness, the hail and rains may de- 
scend, the winds may blow, and the storm may 
rage, all nature may wear as dark an aspect 
as it now does a bright and beautiful one. 

Just so it is in the moral world. To-day we 
may be rejoicing in prosperity, happy in our 



174 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 

health and strength, happy in our worldly cir- 
cumstances, happy in our friends, and happy in 
our prospects so far as we can reasonably antici- 
pate the future. But all this affords no guaranty 
for to-morrow. On the morrow God may bring 
as sudden and as gloomy a change in our outward 
circumstances as ever came over the face of na- 
ture, and hardly a vestige of our former pros- 
perity may remain. It is an ordinance of Provi- 
dence that this should be a world of " lights and 
shadows, 5 ' that good and evil should be inter- 
mixed, and that one should succeed the other just 
in that time and in that order which the inscrut- 
able will of God may see best, without either ask- 
ing our leave, or even informing us how or when 
these changes are to occur. TTe are therefore to 
take the good and the ill things of life as they 
come, and get good out of them all, and improve 
them so that they may answer, both to us and to 
others, the purposes for which they are sent. 
Each phase of life has its appropriate considera- 
tions, feelings, and duties. 

I think, my young friends, there is no doubt 
but some, and probably all of you will hereafter 
have more or less practical experience of the dark 
phases of human life. It is by no means probable 
that every day of your future will be all sunshine. 
It would be very strange if your path through this 
world should be alwavs smooth, and strewn with 



THE CHRISTIAN IN ADVERSITY. 175 

flowers. There is, indeed, a vast difference in the 
amount of temporal good and evil allotted to in- 
dividuals here, even to God's own children. Some 
are very much prospered, and others seem to be 
almost perpetually under the frown of Providence. ' 
But there are very few who do not have to pass 
through many dark, distressing scenes ; and I 
think I can safely predict that there is not one 
of you who will not know what trouble is before 
you die. The forms in which it comes may and 
probably will be very diverse, although there is a 
class of trials common to all mankind, and from 
which, of course, none can hope to be exempt. I 
do not wish to throw a damper over your spirits, 
as you are now in the buoyancy of youth, looking 
forward probably with sanguine hopes to a pros- 
perous and happy future, by holding up before 
you a gloomy picture. The prospects before you 
are not all, nor chiefly, dark by any means. If an 
artist could be inspired to paint a picture which 
should truthfully represent human life as it will 
hereafter be realized in the experience of each of 
you, there is reason to believe that many bright 
and cheering points would illumine it ; but it is 
useless to conceal the fact, that there would prob- 
ably be drawn on that canvas some scenes which 
would cause you to shrink back with fear and 
trembling. It is well, therefore, that you should 
take a candid, rational view of your earthly so- 



176 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

journ, and bear in mind that, while you are hop- 
ing for good and seeking after it, evils of some 
kind are in store for you, and it may be evils of 
a very great magnitude. I say it is well to bear 
this in mind, for if you do, you will not be taken 
by surprise when they come, and you will not be 
altogether unprepared for them. 

I. I will in ihs first place mention some of the 
different forms in which you are liable to encoun- 
ter adversity in your future life. 

The term adversity implies some very serious 
calamity, or trial, or affliction, which essentially 
mars our happiness and inflicts great distress, 
mental or corporeal. 

1. I would mention first, bodily pain or in- 
jury. This is an evil to which all are subject, 
and one which, to some extent, all must suffer. 
There is not a day passes in which we do not suf- 
fer something in this way. But our ordinary daily 
sufferings are so slight, and transient, they are not 
worthy of being taken into the account in this con- 
nection. But how liable are we all to suffer ex- 
cruciating bodily anguish, which no skill of the 
physician, nor the power of medicine, can effec- 
tually remove. There are pains in the head, pains 
in the chest, pains in the limbs, pains in the eyes, 
and other different organs of the body, and some- 
times they are of so severe a character as to mar 
every enjoyment ; and if they are continued with- 



THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 177 

out alleviation, they render life itself a burden. 
Such was one of Job's severest calamities. He 
was covered from the crown of his head to the 
sole of the foot with sore boils, so that he could 
neither stand, sit. or lie down without experienc- 
ing the intensest a^onv I Pie bore his other ca- 
lamities with fortitude ; but he quailed under 
bodily suffering, so that his life became a loath- 
ing- to him, and he prayed that he might die. 
There have been few sufferers like Job : but there 
have been multitudes, and there are multitudes 
living at this very moment, whose sufferings are 
akin to his. There are many persons, and I have 
seen such, who know not what it is to be free 
from pain from the beginning of the year to the 
end of it: days, months, and even years of sick- 
ness and languishing are apportioned to them. 
Severe bodily pain is an evil to which we are all 
liable, and one which doubtless many of us are 
doomed to suffer intensely before we die. 

Connected with bodily pain, there is often bodily 
injury, involving the loss of sight, or the loss of 
hearing, or the loss of limb. How many are 
maimed for life by accidents on railroads and 
steamboats — in manufacturing establishments, by 
beino' caught in machinerv — at the raising and 
falling of buildings — - disasters at tires, and ten 
thousand other ways, according as God may see 
fit to order his providence. In a moment, in the 



178 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

twinkling of an eye as it were, the most joyous 
prosperity has been changed to the darkest ad- 
versity ! 

Who of you can tell, my young friends, but 
that you may in the course of future life, be 
called to suffer some calamity of this kind, so 
as to cut off all your earthly prospects, and render 
you helpless and dependent ? 

2. Another form in which adversity may come 
is the loss of property. Supposing God should 
prosper you in the # employment of your hands, or 
in your chosen occupation for life, and fill your 
basket and store-house, — should let your property 
accumulate so that you may consider yourself in- 
dependent, and even rich, — you are by no means 
secure. A disastrous fire, a revulsion in the com- 
mercial world, the failure of corporations, the 
bankruptcy of those who are indebted to you, 
and the worthlessness of their securities, or an 
unknown defect in your title to real estate — any 
or all of these causes may bring you down from 
affluence to poverty, and you may be reduced to 
the condition of your blessed Master, not having 
"where to lay your head," and even "want may 
come upon you like an armed man." Thousands 
and tens of thousands in our country have experi- 
enced all this within the last few years, and thou- 
sands more will experience the same in years to 
come, and you may be of the number. 



THE CHRISTIAN IN ADVERSITY. 179 

3. Another form of adversity may be domestic 
'ions in the loss of near and dear friends, for 
affliction is not improperly called adversity. If 
there is any one cause more than another which 
makes the world literally " a vale of tears," it is' 
the sundering of the ties which bind us to those 
we love. The loss of property is nothing to the 
loss of a companion, a child, a parent, a brother, 
or a sister, unless a person has become so sordid 
as to make gold his idol. Nothing can make this 
world look so sad, and desolate, as to follow to 
the grave the remains of those whose hearts are 
knit with ours. 

There is a bitterness in that sorrow which weeps 
for loved ones laid in the grave, which is tasted in 
no other cup. Go and ask the widow, or the 
widowed husband, or the stricken parents bereft 
of their children, what in their opinion constitutes 
the essence of adversity, and their tears will tell 
you. There needs to be " no speech nor lan- 
guage : " " their voice " need " not be heard : rr the 
silent but quivering lip. and the heaving bosom 
will reveal the truth that no desolation can exceed 
what they experience. This species of trial is 
certain to befall every one of us, unless we our- 
selves should be the first called away. The sepa- 
ration of friends by death is inevitable. The sun 
is not more certain to rise to-morrow than it is 
certain that our hearts are some time to be riven 



180 pastob's counsels to young christians. 

by the stroke of the fell destroyer. The hour of 
oar anguish may be deferred, but come it will in 
God's appointed time. "It is appointed to all 
men once to die." We shall either leave our 
friends to weep for us, or we shall be left to weep 
for them. In either case, the silken cords of affec- 
tion which now bind our hearts together hav^e got 
to be sundered, ajid the tears of grief are ere long 
sure to overflow. 

I have spoken of some of the most prominent 
forms, my young friends, in which stern adver- 
sity may possibly visit you in future life; viz., 
bodily suffering, loss of property, the blighting 
of all your worldly prospects, and the desolation 
of grief occasioned by the loss of beloved friends. 
There are other trials common to humanity, such 
as disappointment in our fondly-cherished plans, 
malice of enemies, ingratitude and unkind treat- 
ment from those to whom we have shown favors, 
domestic troubles and secret griefs of w T hich the 
w r orld cannot be cognizant, — all of which may or 
may not be yours in the future. I pray God to 
avert them from you so far as may be consistent 
with your highest good ; but that you will be 
exempt from all kinds of adversity during your 
earthly pilgrimage, is more than we are to hope 
for, and perhaps more than we ought to desire. 

II. I shall now, in the second place, speak of the 
spirit with which you should meet adversity when 
it comes. 



THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 181 

1. And I would say first, particularly to young 

men, — meet it with a manly spirit. If troubles 

come, do not wilt and quail before them like a petted 

child when it meets with a slight accident, or when 
its toys are taken away. Not that I would have 
you cultivate a stoicism which looks with indiffer- 
ence upon passing events, whether they be joyous 
or sad. A person without emotion is to be pitied. 
But what I mean is that you should meet the trials 
of life with a good degree of fortitude, and not 
wilt like a hot-house plant the moment it is 
touched by the frost, if you meet with an acci- 
dent, bear it like a man : if called to -utter bodily 
pain, endure it like a man : if misfortune overtakes 
you. and your property is destroyed or taken 
away, do not, in effeminate weakness, sit down and 
say. "My all is gone : I am undone for life : it is 
of no use for me to try any longer." Be ashamed 
to let especially the lighter trials of life, like loss 
or disappointment in regard to business or prop- 
erty, erush you. Bouse up and look misfortune 
in the face ; not in a defiant spirit, for misfortune 
is one of God's messenger-, but look upon her as 
a friend ; and although she wears a frown upon 
her brow, see if you cannot detect a -mile upon 
her lips. Her errand may be one of love after all. 

2. Secon ' meet adversity with a cheerful 
spirit. This you will be likely to do if you meet it 
with a manly spirit. However great our trials, they 



182 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

should not make us melancholy. To be cheerful, 
is a duty we owe both to ourselves and to others. 
To despond, and suffer ourselves to be made 
wretched and gloomy by any adverse occurrences, 
is both useless and sinful. There is no day so 
dark but that we can see to go about ; the clouds 
over our heads are never so dense but they admit 
some rays of the sun to pass through them. So 
the moral atmosphere is never so dark but there 
are some rays of light to cheer the gloom ; and if 
you are tempted to despondency, you should 
remember that there is still left more of good than 
of evil, and you have more occasion for smiles 
than you have for tears. 

3. Thirdly, You should meet adversity with a 
submissive spirit. All'events are ordered by an all- 
wise, though inscrutable Providence. " The Lord 
reigneth," and doeth his pleasure in all places, 
and with all beings ; and that is enough for us. 
Our language should ever be, "Thy will be done.'' 
"Even so, Father." God knows best what we 
should suffer, and in his wisdom and his goodness 
we should cheerfully and implicitly confide. "The 
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away," said 
the patient sufferer ; " blessed be the name of the 
Lord." "Though he slay me yet will I trust in 
him." Aaron, when bereaved of his sons, "held 
his peace." The Psalmist, when suffering chastise- 
ment at the hand of God, says, "I was dumb, I 



THE CHRISTIAN EN ADVERSITY. 183 

opened not my mouth because thou didst it." 
The Lord Jesus, our great exemplar, endured 
afflictions a thousand fold greater than ever fell to 
the lot of humanity, and we read that in the depth 
of his sorrows, he fell on his face and prayed:' 
"0. my Father, if it he possible let this cup pass 
from me : nevertheless, not as I will but as thou 
wilt." And this should be the language of every 
one suffering adversity. 

III. We will now. in the third place, direct our 
attention to some considerations which tend to 
ameliorate adversity^ and light up the darkness 
which it naturally throws around us. 

And a prominent one is. our trials do not come 
by chance, neither are they inflicted by an enemy ; 
but are by the appointment of our best friend. 
God not only foreknows, but Predetermines all 
events. Our afflictions are as much by his ap- 
pointment as our blessings are. and should be 
regarded by us as an essential part of his wise and 
benevolent plan for administering his moral gov- 
ernment over his creatures. We know that God 
has a good and sufficient reason for inflicting upon 
us every ill that we suffer, and with this we should 
be content. 

Our trials, be they ever so great, are nothing in 
comparison with what we deserve. When we 
place our afflictions by the side of our sins, we 
cannot but be filled with admiration of that grood- 



184: pastor's counsels to young christians. 

ness which deals so gently with us We should 
have no reason to complain were God to take from 
us every comfort, and send us nothing but chas- 
tisements ; but instead of it, he continues most 
of our blessings, even in the darkest times, and 
wields the rod with a tender Father's hand, and 
strikes only a few and gentle blows. 

Another sustaining consideration in adversity 
is, God is dealing ivith us in chastisement for our 
good, and not because he takes any pleasure in 
our suffering. " He doth not afflict willing! v, nor 
grieve the children of men, but for their profit" 
— that is, he takes no satisfaction in giving his 
children pain, and would not do so were it not 
necessary for our good. What a different aspect 
does this consideration give to earthly trials, — to 
think that they are all dictated by kindness, and 
have their origin in parental love. "Whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, 
God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son 
is he whom the father chasteneth not ? But if ye 
be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, 
then are ye bastards, and not sons." The sw 7 eet 
poet Cowper says : — 

" Did I meet no trials here, 
No chastisement by the way, 
Might I not with reason fear 
I should be a castaway ? " 



THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 185 

There is another consideration for the true 
Christian, calculated to cheer the hours of adver- 
sity ; and that is, they vnll shortly be past. These 
trials and these sorrows are not to be perpetual ; 
they are only temporary evils, which ere long will 
be alleviated or removed. These darksome nights 
will be succeeded by the cheerful light of day. 
Whether it will be in this world we cannot tell. 
It is not much matter ; but we know the period 
will come, if we are God's children, when every 
pain we suffer will be removed, every sigh that 
heaves our bosoms will be hushed, every tear will 
be wiped away, and every dark and dreary scene 
will be exchanged for one of light, cheerfulness, 
and joy. Let these considerations cheer and ani- 
mate us, my friends, and sustain our spirits, if 
now, or in after life, God may see fit to cause us 
to pass under the cloud of adversity. 

IV. In the j bin th place I will specify some of 
the uses to be made of adversity. 

One prominent use we should make of adver- 
sity should it come upon us is, to institute the in- 
quiry why God is contending with us. As I have 
already stated, God has a wise and benevolent 
object in view when he wields the rod. This 
object relates in part to us as individuals. It is 
for us to inquire What is it? What sin do we 
cherish and habitually commit that he wishes to 
correct ? What languishing Christian grace does 



186 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

he wish to revive in our hearts ? What neglected 
Christian duty does he design to prompt us to 
discharge? Doubtless some one and perhaps all 
of these objects he has in view, and designs to 
secure. We should lose no time in ascertaining 
what God means when he speaks to us in this way, 
and as dutiful children, obey his voice, and put 
in practice the lesson he gives us. This chastise- 
ment is for our profit, and we should see to it that 
we do not lose the blessing it was designed to 
secure to us. God often makes use of adversity 
to turn our thoughts from this world to himself. 
This world is apt to engross our thoughts and 
affections, so that sometimes the Christian almost 
forgets that there is any other world besides this, 
and nothing short of severe measures will prove 
effectual to reclaim him. Let us, then, ask our- 
selves, Have we not become too worldly-minded? 
and are not these severe chastisements the means 
God is using to detach our affections from earth, 
that they may return to him ? 

Another use we should make of adversity is, 
it should lead us to think more of heaven. In 
prosperity we often lose sight of it, w^e cease to 
desire it, we are too well satisfied with what we 
have here and hope to obtain. But when trials 
come, and our good things are taken away, then 
we see and feel the need of something better and 
more substantial. In heaven, the Christian's por- 



THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 187 

tion, there are no pains, no losses, no disappoint- 
ments, no separation of friends, no toil, no solici- 
tude, no sighs, and no tears. All is peace and 
blessedness there. It is passing strange that the 
world, so unsatisfying in its nature, so uncertain, 
so deceptive, and so fleeting, should ever come 
between us and heaven. But it often does, and 
almost entirely hides its glories from our view. 
When, therefore, God takes this world from us, 
or any of its enjoyments on which we had placed 
our affections, our thoughts and our hearts should 
immediately go upward and fasten upon our bet- 
ter inheritance. If heaven is ours, how insignifi- 
cant are all our losses, sufferings, and trials here ! 
I shall close this chapter with one more thought ; 
and that is, whenever adversity comes upon you, 
my young friends, put all your confidence in God. 
Look to him for grace and strength to enable you 
to exercise your courage, your fortitude, your 
Christian philosophy. Philosophy without grace 
cannot sustain you ; but grace and strength from 
God can sustain you even without philosophy. He 
alone can enable you to bear the burdens which he 
himself imposes. And if you will confide in him 
he will do it. He has graciously promised that 
he will. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." 
" Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall 
sustain thee.*' Let the great use of your trials 
be to lead you nearer to God ; to place an implicit 



188 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

confidence in his wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, 
and truth. He will cause light to shine out of 
darkness, and will bring good out of apparent evil. 
He will make all things work together for your 
highest good in time and in eternity. Trust in 
the Lord, and then, although the foundations of 
the earth should be shaken, you have nothing to 
fear. 



CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 189 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CHRISTIAN MANLINESS, 
Be strong and show thyself a man. — 1 Kings 2 : 2. 

THESE words are a part of King David's dying 
charge to the youthful Solomon, David was 
now an old man. For a period of forty years he 
had swayed the scepter as sovereign over Israel. 
He was now about to resign it to his son. and as 
the days drew near that he should die. he called 
Solomon to his bedside, and gave him the follow- 
ing charge : "I go." said he. "the way of all the 
earth; be thou strong, therefore, and shorn thyself 
a man. And keep the charge of the Lord thy 
God. to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, 
and his commandments, and his judgments, and 
his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, 
that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest. and 
whithersoever thou turnest thyself." Solomon 
was now a mere youth, about twenty years old. 
and upon him were soon to devolve cares and re- 
sponsibilities of the greatest magnitude. It is not 
surprising, therefore, that David felt a tender 
solicitude for the youth, and took this opportunity. 



190 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

just as he was leaving the world, to give this his 
affectionate, paternal counsel, the first sentence 
of which is, " be strong and show thyself a man" 
David meant by this, that Solomon should culti- 
vate, and exhibit in his deportment and actions, a 
noble, upright, dignified, manly spirit and bearing 
in his intercourse with his fellow-men. 

The counsel David gave to Solomon is always 
appropriate, especially to young men coming upon 
the stage of life. The first requisite for forming a 
useful character in the world, is piety : and the 
second is manliness. The two are very nearly 
allied. A person cannot be a very good Christian 
without being manly ; and it is impossible to be 
perfectly manly in the fullest and best sense of 
that term, without being a Christian. 

Manliness is a term that expresses dignity, 
firmness, courage, integrity, principle, decision, 
nobleness of soul. Perhaps we can define it as 
well as any way by its opjjosites. It is opposed to 
childishness. "When I became a man," says 
Paul, " I put away childish things." He did not 
make it the business of life to amuse himself with 
toys. It is opposed to effeminacy, — a fear of 
coming in contact with the world, lest in the 
severe conflicts of life, some trifling injury may 
possibly be sustained, especially to the personal 
appearance, — a spirit that betrays a greater solici- 
tude for the dressing of the hair, the fitting of a 



CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 191 

garment, the fairness of the complexion, and the 
whiteness and softness of the hands, than for any 
adorning of the inner man, all of which may be 
expressed by the modern term, " dandyism." 

Manliness is opposed to cowardice, which is 
always afraid to stir out of doors because there is 
"a lion in the street." 

It is opposed to obsequiousness,— a servile 
fawning around an individual or a party, to court 
favor, or to obtain an office. 

It is opposed to rudeness, either in speech or 
behavior toward our superiors, inferiors, or equals. 

It is opposed to two-facedness and duplicity ; 
i. e., being one thing in a man's presence, and 
another behind his back. 

It is opposed to hypocrisy in every shape, and 
in all circumstances. 

It is opposed to fickleness, — a constant changing 
of opinions and course of conduct, so that a 
knowledge of what a man was yesterday, gives you 
no clue to what he is to-dav, or what he will be 
to-morrow. 

Manliness is opposed to rowdyism, — boister- 
ousness in the streets, disturbing the peace of 
neighborhoods, and the rest of honest, quiet people 
at night, by loud demonstrations of mirth, and out- 
landish noises. 

It is opposed to meanness in every form and 
degree ; — meanness in buying ; meanness in sell- 



192 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

ing ; meanness in taking advantage of others 9 
ignorance or necessities ; meanness in shirking 
responsibility; meanness in enjoying anything that 
is pleasant or useful, and refusing to pay for it 
because others will ; meanness in opposing a good 
and necessary object, because it will cost some- 
thing ; meanness in eaves-dropping ; meanness in 
prying into and meddling with other people's 
matters, and then going around the streets and 
talking about them. 

It is opposed to miserly penuriousness, — close- 
calculating, close-fisted covetousness. 

It is opposed to envy, ill-will, censoriousness, 
back-biting, and everything that goes to disturb 
the harmony of society. 

All the things which I have mentioned are 
directly the opposite of manliness. True manli- 
ness looks down upon them from a lofty elevation, 
with sincere pity and a virtuous contempt. 

I think, from this negative description, you may 
get a pretty correct idea of what I understand by 
manliness. 

I will now proceed, my young friends, to give 
some directions how your manliness should be 
exemplified. 

1. One way in which manliness should be exem- 
plified is in your deportment and general de- 
meanor. Carefully avoid that effeminateness and 
foppishness in your dress, manners, and eonversa- 



CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 193 

tion, to which young men are sometimes prone, 
and which is in general a public advertisement of 
a want of correct taste, mental culture, and good 
sense. It is unquestionably the duty of every- 
body to pay some attention to their personal ap- 
pearance. There is an evident propriety in our 
being not only comfortably, but decently, and 
even tastefully clad. 

Xeither religion nor manliness requires a young 
man, or an old man, to be a sloven, and to out- 
rage the feelings of civilized society, by dressing 
like a savage, or by disregarding the habits and 
customs of the community in which he lives. Our 
clothes should be of such materials as to combine 
decency, comfort, and economy ; and made in such 
a style as to attract no particular notice, either for 
their elegance or the want of it. And this is 
sufficient. But to see a young man giving his at- 
tention to fine clothes, studying the latest fashions, 
and following them to an extreme, giving himself 
more concern about the setting of his coat, and the 
texture of the cloth of which it is made, than he 
does about the texture of his mind, or the state of 
his heart, is so unworthy of one who pretends to 
call himself a man, that it is painfully disgusting. 
Such a one thinks, by making a display on his 
person of the gloss of his apparel, and the skill of 
his tailor, that he is making a favorable impres- 
sion on those who look at him. Xever was there 



194 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

a greater mistake. While the poor simpleton 
imagines that he is an object of universal admira- 
tion, he little dreams that all sensible people are 
looking upon him with mingled feelings of pity 
and disgust. Says a very plain-spoken, sensible 
writer : * " No character is more despicable than 
that of a fop, for it implies the most diminutive 
littleness of soul ; since it is evident that if the 
man had more mind, he would serve the devil in a 
bolder way. The evil one has set him about the 
smallest of all business, as either not competent, 
or not inclined to great undertakings. There is 
something so beneath the dignity of manhood, so 
unworthy of our high origin, of our varied powers, 
and of our momentous destiny, in concentrating 
the faculties of the soul on questions of dress, 
fashion, and personal appearance, that I believe 
no young man can respect himself, as I am sure 
he cannot be respected by others, who is thus 
characterized." Words fitly spoken. Not only 
in your dress, but in your manners and conversa- 
tion be manly. In society, try to talk about 
something besides trifles. Never condescend to 
use vulgar or slang phrases, — a custom quite too 
common, even among those who would be thought 
gentlemen. They are demoralizing, useless, and 
undignified. Feel yourselves above telling, or 

*Rev. W. W. Pattern, D. D. ; see his " Young Man," p. 130. 



CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 195 

even listening to, foolish and indecent stories and 
anecdotes. Leave all these for the amusement of 
buffoons, — that class of persons who sustain a mid- 
dle rank between apes and men. Let there be such 
a contrast between your carriage and conversation 
and theirs, that none can fail to see it. Respect 
yourselves, and you will be respected even by the 
low-bred and vulgar. Show that you are disgusted 
with their folly, and they will soon cease to trouble 
you. There is nothing this class of people shun 
more than true manliness ; and if you evince it in 
your deportment, they will very soon discover it, 
and let you alone. Treat everybody with true 
politeness and courtesy. Never return an insult, 
and you will not be often insulted. The archangel 
Michael was polite, even to the devil, as we read 
in James ; and his example is worthy of imitation. 
How sublime and dignified was he in his reply to 
the insolence of the adversary ! It is evident that 
the devil insulted him. Instead of " giving him 
as good as he sent" (as the common phrase is), he 
replied, " The Lord rebuke thee." How would the 
angel have let himself down, had he returned rail- 
ing for railing t 

Let your manliness stand out prominent in all 
your intercourse with the world. There will 
hardly a day pass without its being called into 
requisition. Let it appear in your frankness. 
Some men always act and speak on the non-com- 



196 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

nrittal system. They never let you know what they 
believe or disbelieve ; what they approve or dis- 
approve ; whether they will forward an enterprise 
or oppose it ; whether they favor the interests of 
this party or that one ; whether they love you or 
hate you. Now there is nothing manly in all this. 
When you see a man going about in a mask, and 
under a cloak, you have reason to be afraid of 
him, and to suspect that he has sinister designs, 
either upon you or somebody else. How much 
more noble and manly is it to avow your opinions, 
and show your colors, and let the world know 
who and what you are, and what ground you stand 
upon in regard to all subjects in which you and 
the public have a mutual interest, and where you 
are expected to exert an influence. If you are 
ashamed of your opinions, and do not avow them 
on that account, abandon them. If you are afraid 
to avow them, be ashamed of your cowardice. If 
you are unwilling to avow them because you wish 
to make some private capital out of your non- 
committalism, then you should blush for your 
selfishness. I do not mean, that in order to be 
frank, you must tell all you know and think, about 
things which ought to be kept private ; nor about 
matters with which others have no concern, but 
to gratify an idle and impertinent curiosity. On 
the contrary, frankness demands that you tell, 
plainly, all such intermeddlers with what does not 



CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 197 

belong to them, that there are good reasons why 
you should keep your own counsel. 

Let your manliness appear in your ingenuousness 
in acknowledging , without equivocation or reserve, 
when you have been mistaken, or done wrong; 
and if you have intentionally or unintentionally 
injured any one, let your manliness appear in 
making all suitable apology and reparation. There 
is hardly any mistake into which mankind are 
more frequently led by their pride, than the notion 
that it is degrading to confess when they have 
been in error, or have done wrong ; whereas noth- 
ing can be more manly. Rather than do it, many 
will meet in deadly combat, and blow each other's 
brains out ! 

Let your manliness appear in all your business 
transactions. Here it should stand out in bold 
relief. The manner in which you deal with your 
fellow-men will leave an indelible impression on 
their minds. There is nothing that will make a 
more favorable impression among honorable busi- 
ness men, than an honest, truthful, candid, liberal, 
straightforward manliness in your buying and sell- 
ing, and keeping and settling accounts ; and there 
is nothing that leaves a worse impression than for 
one who professes to be a man, especially a pro- 
fessed Christian, to higgle and manoeuver and mis- 
represent and conceal, and to take advantage and 



198 pastok's counsels to young christians. 

cheat, in making; a bargain. There are some men 
who affect respectability who will do this. 

Let me earnestly exhort you, my young friends, 
in all your business transactions in future life, to 
show yourselves men. Disdain to descend to the 
low, mean, and petty, not to say dishonest artifices 
to which some will resort, to turn a few pennies 
from another man's pocket into their own. If you 
have an article to sell, do not represent it to be 
any better than it is. If it has defects, do not 
leave the purchaser to find them out if he can, 
especially after you have concealed them by 
thrusting them under cover ; but do you point them 
out, exactly as they are. Never ask a little more 
for an article than it is worth, because you think 
the person you are dealing with is ignorant of the 
market value. When buying an article have the 
candor to acknowledge whatever good qualities it 
may possess, and do not try to make it appear to 
have defects which you know it has not. A man 
will never do such things, and you will not, if there 
is anything manly about you. Let honor, truth- 
fulness, and strict integrity characterize every- 
thing you say and do, in all the affairs of life, so 
that there never shall be occasion to 'say, concern- 
ing any one of you, "he is a person that needs 
watching." 

Again, let your manliness be manifested in your 
always taking a decided stand for principle and for 



CHKISTIAN MANLINESS. 199 

right, however unpopular such a course may be. 
Always defend the down-trodden, and take part 
with the oppressed against the oppressor. Let 
your voice be heard for justice and equity, and for 
good order, and good rulers, and good laws, and the 
execution of good laws, irrespective of party or 
personal considerations. Espouse the right, even 
though you should have to stand alone, as Abdiel 
did — as represented by Milton — when, unsup- 
ported by a single individual, he uttered his voice 
in solemn protest against the usurpation of Satan 
and his compeers when they revolted in heaven. 
Such a stand may cost you your popularity, or de- 
prive you of office, in possession or in prospect. 
It may subject you to jeers, and taunts, and per- 
secution, even as it did Abdiel. But what of that ? 
A man will stand up for the right, though all the 
powers of darkness, and their allies in this world, 
with Satan at their head, should rise up against 
him. He that will not do it is devoid of principle, 
— a poor, selfish, craven wretch, and not worthy 
the name of a man. 

Again, let your manliness be exemplified in 
your having a mind and opinions of your oivn, 
and by showing that you can adhere to them. 
Dare to think for yourselves, my young friends ; 
if you would be men. It is proper for you 
to listen to what others say, and to be influ- 
enced by their arguments, if they are good ones ; 



200 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

but not otherwise. When forming your opinions, 
act with deliberation and independence. Do not 
believe this dogma or that, merely because some- 
body tells you to ; for perhaps to-morrow some- 
body else will tell you to believe directly the 
opposite, and thus you will be "carried about 
by the sleight and cunning craftiness of men, 
whereby they lie in wait to deceive." I say 
think for yourselves, and form your own opin- 
ions, and when you have formed them, adhere 
to them, unless you become convinced that they 
are wrong, and then change them, and have 
the manliness to tell the world that you have 
done so, and don't be ashamed of it. Never, 
in any case, be persuaded to do violence to the 
dictates of conscience. You will often be assailed 
by temptation to violate your principles. Do not 
be afraid to hold up your head, look your tempter 
in the face, and answer him with a decided NO. 
In politics, morals, and religion act consistently, 
and carry out your principles, independently of 
demagogues, scheming politicians, or the devil, 
and be men in spite of them all. 

Again, let your manliness be exemplified in 
your high and noble aims in life, God did not 
create you to be drones and idlers. He has given 
each one of you a part to act ; there is an im- 
portant niche for each one of you to fill. Your 
influence and your labors are wanted in the world 



CHRISTIAN MAXLXNESS, 201 

for promoting the glory of God. and the interests 

of the great family of man. Seek. then, some 
honorable and useful employment. Even if wealth 

uld flow in upon you. or a fortune should be 
left you. so that there should be nc>- pecuniary 
necessity tor your ever moving a finger, it "would 
make not the least difference. You have no right 
to stand all day in the vineyard idle, or to spend* 
your time on trifles, or in ignoble pursuits. It is 
sinful and unmanly to do so. Live not for pres- 
ent, selfish gratification, but have constantly be- 
fore vou an object worthv of vour exalted nature, 
and your immortal destiny. 

But the most important direction for your 
"showing yourselves men" remains to be given. 

Let your manliness be manifested in tout fidelity 
f tl - Lt \ ' Jet ? Christ. All 
your manliness in the affairs of this world will be 
of little avail, comparatively, if you are found 
wanting here. You have enlisted in a noble war- 
fare, under a leader who styles himself the "Cap- 
tain of your salvation." and it now remains for 
you to be string, of good courage, active, vigi- 
lant, self-sacrificing, prompt, and persevering. 
The warfare in which you are engaged, my young 
friends, you will And. before you are through with 
it. to be no trifling matter. The enemies with 
whom you are to contend are numerous, artful. 
and powerful, and you will never vanquish them 



202 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

unless you are alive to a sense of your solemn 
responsibilities, and "put on the whole armor of 
God," and " fight manfully the good fight of 
faith," and " quit yourselves like men." 

Always be ready, in all places and in all cir- 
cumstances, to let the world know on what ground 
you stand; that you are committed for life, and 
for eternity, to the cause of truth and righteous- 
ness. Your flag has emblazoned upon it the cross 
of Christ, and you should glory in it. Instead of 
keeping it concealed, unfurl it and give it to the 
wind, and let it wave in the breeze, so that all 
the world can see it ; and let both your foes and 
your friends know that you will die sooner than 
see that flag struck or dishonored. Your leader 
is the Lord Jesus, and let his name cause your 
hearts to thrill with joy, and to beat with ardor 
for him and his cause, as the name of Bonaparte 
inspired the hearts of the French soldiers, and as 
the names of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan gave 
courage and enthusiasm to our brave boys in the 
late war. 

A manty soldier wears the uniform given him, 
and keeps his armor bright, and read?/ for use at 
any moment. So are you to put on the gospel 
panoply, "the breastplate of righteousness," the 
"helmet of salvation," and taking the "sword of 
the Spirit, which is the word of God," you are to 



CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 203 

he ready to fight the good fight of faith, and to 
go forth to conflict at a moment's warning. 

A manly soldier is vigilant. He is often put 
on guard as a sentinel. He never sleeps at his 
post ; but his eyes and his ears are open that he 
may obtain a knowledge of the first approach of 
danger. So are you to be constantly on the look- 
out for your spiritual enemies, — enemies from 
without and enemies from within. You are told 
to "be vigilant, for your adversary, the devil, as 
a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may 
devour," and you are informed that the world, 
the flesh, and the devil, have formed a triple 
alliance to oppose Christ, and thwart his cause. 

A manly soldier will cheerfully and patiently 
endure toil, privation, and hardship for his coun- 
try. He will live on the coarsest fare, sleep in his 
blanket on the cold ground or hot ground, under 
the open sky, and not utter a word of complaint, 
all for the affection he bears his general and his 
cause. 

So are you to " endure hardness as a good 
soldier of Jesus Christ," w deny yourselves, take up 
your cross and follow him," and count, not merely 
your comforts, but your lives even, "not dear to 
you," if called upon to sacrifice them for his sake. 

A manly soldier never deserts. He serves out 
the time for which -he enlisted, come what will, 
life or death, victory or defeat. So, as manly 



204 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

soldiers, you must not desert your leader, you 
must serve out the time for which you have en- 
listed, and that is for eternity, 

A manly soldier is courageous. He will stand 
at his post on the defensive, or will march boldly 
up to the enemy's batteries at the word of com- 
mand, and engage in the thickest of the fight, and 
not suffer a nerve to tremble. So you, my young 
friends, are to feel "strong in the Lord and in 
the power of his might," and "having done all, 
to stand" up manfully for Jesus, in defense of his 
cause, his people, and his truth ; or march forward 
manfully and fearlessly, at his bidding, and make 
a vigorous onset upon the strongholds of the king- 
dom of darkness. 

Thus, my young friends, wherever you are, in 
whatever circumstances you may be placed, either 
as citizens of the world, or as soldiers of Jesus 
Christ, "be strong, and shoiv yourselves men." 



THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 205 



CHAPTER XV. 
The Vineyard and Laborers. 

Go ye also into the vineyard. — Matt. 20 : 7. 

THE subject of this chapter is taken from 
one of the parables of our blessed Lord. 
He represents God as the proprietor of a large 
vineyard in need of cultivation. There is much 
work to be done in it, and he calls for laborers at 
different hours of the day, and at evening reckons 
with them, and pays them according to his good 
pleasure, doing injustice to no one. The scope 
of the parable is to illustrate the goodness and 
the sovereignty of God. The metaphor which our 
Saviour uses illustrates also the relation which 
mankind sustain to God as his subjects and work- 
ers for him. In this sense I shall make a free use 
of it as illustrative of the situation of Christians 
in the world as laborers for God. 

The subject discussed in this chapter is one 
which should interest all, and especially young 
Christians. Permit me then to direct your atten- 
tion to several particulars. 

First, the Vineyard, or field to which you are 



206 pastor's couxsels to youxg christians. 

called. It is a very large field, every portion of 
which needs cultivating. It embraces Europe, 
Asia, Africa, and America, and thousands of 
islands of the sea. 

It is a very hard, stony, and difficult field to 
cultivate. There are everywhere hard and stony 
hearts, and hard characters to deal with, and 
obstacles to overcome ; more in the way, and 
more difficult to surmount, a great deal, than any 
rocks or stones that impede the plow of the hus- 
bandman. There are high mountains of pride, 
and wealth, and aristocracy ; there are low valleys 
of poverty, humiliation, and wretchedness. There 
are " sloughs of despond," and sinks of vice and 
moral pollution, where are found the "offscouring 
of all things." It is overrun with a rank and 
spontaneous growth of sin, and error, and infidel- 
ity, and false religion, and superstition, and 
fanaticism, and deism, and atheism. Scattered 
over the whole field are moral plants of every 
name but those of grace. There is not a spot on 
the face of the earth where you will find plants 
of grace growing spontaneously ; the soil is too 
poor, the natural heart is too hard and stony. 
Venomous reptiles abound ; they are the old ser- 
pent and his progeny. They are those of whom 
the Psalmist speaks when he says, "They have 
sharpened their tongues like a serpent, adders' 
poison is under their lips," "their poison is the 



THE VINEYARD AXD LABORERS. 207 

poison of a serpent ; they are like the deaf adder 
that stoppeth her ear ; " and like those whom our 
Saviour addressed when he exclaimed ; " Ye ser- 
pents, ye generation of vipers." They are the 
slanderers, the whisperers, the backbiters, the 
''words of whose mouth are smoother than butter, 
but war is in their heart : whose words are softer 
than oil, yet are they drawn swords.*' There are 
wild beasts, — the wicked, who persecute and 
oppress the Lord's people, who do all in their 
power to crush and destroy the Church. The 
Psalmist speaks of them, where he laments for the 
vine brought out of Egypt and planted in Pales- 
tine. '"The hedge,'* he says, is "broken down, 
and the boar out of the wood doth waste it, and 
the wild beast of the field doth devour it.*' 

There is an enemy that sows tares among the 
wheat : who corrupts the Church, and everything 
good, by intermixing with it all manner of evil. 
He is the same enemy who did the same thing in 
our Saviour's time, — the devil, — who still con- 
tinues to pass "to and fro in the earth, and walk 
up and down in it," while "men sleep, " and when 
they are awake, too, doing all the mischief in his 
power. All these considerations combine to ren- 
der the field, in which God calls laborers to work, 
a very hard and difficult field. But this is the 
field, hard and difficult as it is, where, my young 
friends, your services are wanted, and where God 
directs you to £o and labor. 



208 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

Secondly : The work to be done in God's vine- 
yard. It is, in the first place, to be surveyed, to 
see what part of it most needs attention, and 
where in it labor can be performed to the best 
advantage. If I were absent from home in mid- 
summer, and should write to a laborer, directing 
him to go and work in my garden, and should 
give him no more specific directions as to where I 
wished him to begin, or specifically what I 
wished him to do, I should not expect him to 
enter the enclosure and go to work at random ; 
neither should I expect him to spend all his time 
in taking care of the walks and borders, while all 
the choice fruits, plants, and vines in the garden 
were overrun and choked with weeds. I should 
be dissatisfied did he not look about him, and 
survey the ground, and then set himself to work 
where his labor was most needed, and where he 
could do the most good. In regard to minutiae-, I 
should expect him to exercise his good sense. 

So, my young friends, this is the first thing 
requisite of you, as you step into God's enclosure, 
to work in his vineyard in obedience to his call ; 
you are to look about you, survey your field of 
effort, cast your eyes abroad over the world, and 
see what needs to be done for the glory of God, 
and the good of your fellow-men ; and conscien- 
tiously inquire in what sphere, and in what 
employment, you can serve God best, and do 



THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 209 

the most good. Hence, a prominent question 
which comes up for you, especially young men, to 
decide at the commencement of your service is, 
"What occupation, trade, or profession shall I, 
choose for life ? " It is not enough that you serve 
God, but it is essential that you serve him in the 
best way you can, and according to the best of 
your ability. You are bound to serve him in youi* 
daily employments, whether it be on the farm, in 
the shop, in the store, in the study or school, or 
in any of the professions. Xow in what employ- 
ment can you be the most useful? Perhaps you 
can serve him best in some humble, laborious em- 
ployment. Perhaps you could serve him better in 
some situation where your mind would be more 
severely taxed with labor than the body. Hence, 
you ought to make it a serious question for con- 
science to decide, and not rnerebr your carnal 
inclinations, fP How and where can I be most 
useful in God's field ? " If you spend your days 
and energies on the farm or in the shop, when 
you ought to spend them in the study and in the 
pulpit, you would be like the gardener who 
should devote the whole of his time to the gravel- 
walks, while he neglects to destroy the weeds, and 
omits the culture of the vine, the corn, and the 
fruit. And, on the other hand, there is many a 
man in the pulpit, and at the bar, who ought to 
have remained on the farm or in the shop. A care- 



210 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

ful survey of the field, and your own capabilities, 
will enable you not only to decide in regard to 
your occupation for life, but it will show you 
from time to time, the particular duties you have 
to discharge and responsibilities you are to 
assume. You will have social and domestic duties 
devolving on you. It is probable you will at 
some future time be heads of families, and if so 
you will have a most important work to do in 
watching over the corporeal, intellectual, and spir- 
itual interests of your households. If you are 
not heads of families, you will be important mem- 
bers of this or that family circle, where your 
influence will be extensively felt, and where you 
can and ought to be extremely useful in guiding 
the members of that domestic circle, both by pre- 
cept and by example, in the paths of virtue and 
holiness. 

You will be members of civil society, and will 
be called on to stand at your posts, as pillars to 
uphold the fabric of all our free institutions. 
In the town where you reside you will have much 
labor to perform and influence to exert as good 
neighbors and citizens. There will be loud and 
constant demands upon your time and your ener- 
gies, and sometimes upon your property, to sus- 
tain the cause of education, good order, and the 
various interests that go to make a peaceful, intel- 
ligent, virtuous, prosperous community. Every 



THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 211 

town, in order to prosper, must have its men 
(and women, too ) of enlarged views, liberal minds. 
energy of purpose, and sterling principle, to stand 
up as pillars to sustain the numerous social and 
public interests without which society would soon 
relapse into a state of barbarism. There is not 
one of you. my young friends, but will find im- 
portant work to do as members of the community 
where you reside. 

Political duties will also demand your attention. 
The politics of a nation are next in importance to 
its morals and religion ; indeed, they exert a pow- 
erful influence on both. When I say that "politi- 
cal duties will claim your attention.*' I do not 
mean that you will be called — at least by God — 
to mingle in party strife : to promote the interests 
of this faction, and oppose the interests of that 
one, for ambitious or selfish purposes. Tar from 
it. God calls you to no such work as that — a work 
altogether beneath you as Christians and as men. 
But he does call upon you to interest yourselves 
in the good of the nation, and to use your influ- 
ence for the election of good rulers. — men who 
will not bow down to subserve- the interests of 
any party or clique whatever ; men of principle : 
men who have consciences; men who fear to do 
wrong : men who love justice and hate oppres- 
sion ; men who will enact righteous laws, and 
stand up for the universal rights of man ; 



212 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

who will ask of God, rather than the party which 
supports them, "What wilt thou have me to do? " 
It is such men as these we want to rule over us, 
and to legislate for us, no matter by what name 
they are designated ; and to use your influence to 
secure the election of such men, is as much your 
bounden duty as it is to pray. To this end it is 
the duty of those of you who are men, to go to 
the ballot-box, and in every dignified, Christian 
way — and in no other — labor to secure such 
State and national legislators as shall legislate on 
gospel, and not on party principles. It is only in 
this sense, my young friends, and for carrying- 
out such principles, that God will call you to 
work in his vineyard as "politicians." Christian 
politics is the only kind of politics a Christian 
ought to meddle with. 

But by far the most important work to be done 
in God's vineyard is to saw the seeds of gospel 
truth, and to cultivate plants of holiness. The 
greater part of this field is as yet a wilderness, 
bearing nothing but tares, and the grapes of Sodom 
and the clusters of Gomorrah. To subdue this 
wilderness, and bring it to bear fruit unto God, is 
the great work to which every Christian is called ; 
in other words, to labor to advance the cause of 
true religion in the world and convert sinners to 
Christ. Everything else is to be made sub- 
ordinate to this ; and this is the ultimate object to 



THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 213 

be kept steadily in view. To rescue the world 
from the power of Satan, and save sinners whom 
the adversary had seduced from their allegiance 
and made heirs of perdition, was the grand object 
of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the vineyard, when he 
came from heaven and laid down his life for it ; 
and this he has ordained to be the great work of 
his disciples, and this is what he has reference to, 
more than any and every thing else, my young 
friends, as he sends you forth into the field. It is 
that you may labor to advance the cause of true 
piety, and, so far as lies in your power, to bring 
back this revolted world to God. Here you will 
find enough to do, and enough to tax to the ut- 
most your best energies. It is a noble and a glo- 
rious work, and one in which an angel might wish 
to be engaged. The various specific duties which 
claim your attention, as means to subserve the 
great end, are numerous. You are to cultivate 
the religion of the heart, and see that grace has 
taken root there and is bringing forth fruit. You 
are to labor for the advancement of religion in the 
community ; contribute liberally and cheerfully 
for the support of religion and religious institu- 
tions, both at home and abroad. You are to labor 
for a high standard of piety in the church, by fre- 
quent counsel, sympathy, and co-operation with 
your pastor and brethren in every good work. 
You are to meet with them for public and social 



214 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 

worship, and not fr forsake the assembling of your- 
selves together, as the manner of some is." You 
are to labor and pray for a revival of religion ; 
look up the impenitent, and converse with them, 
and urge them, with tears, to become reconciled 
to God. You are to unite with others in giving the 
gospel to those who have it not, and sending the 
heralds of the cross to proclaim glad tidings of 
salvation to those who are sitting in the region and 
shadow of death. By every means in your power, 
God wishes you to strive to cultivate and reclaim 
this barren wilderness — the whole of it — until it 
shall bud and blossom and bear fruit like the prim- 
itive Eden. 

Having taken a survey of the field, and the 
work to be done in it, we will now consider, 

Thirdly : The kind of laborers God icants for 
the performance of his toork. He wants willing 
men, — men who enter the vineyard not by con- 
straint, but cheerfully, and who esteem it a privi- 
lege rather than a task, to labor in so good a 
cause, and under so good a master. 

He wants obedient men, — those who will im- 
plicitly obey him and conform to rules he has laid 
down for the laborers, go to whatever portion of 
the field he directs, do the work he tells them, 
and, in all respects, do as they are bid. 

He wants self-denying men, who will sacrifice 
ease, and emolument, and houses, and lands, and 



THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 215 

will forsake father, and mother, and children, — 
who will lay down their own lives rather than 
not perform the work given them to do. 

He wants resolute men, who are determined to 
go forward and accomplish something, and will 
never quail before opposition or obstacles. 

He wants courageous men, who are not afraid 
of reptiles, wild beasts, nor creeping things ; who 
are not afraid to encounter the devil and all his 
followers, whether he comes in the form of the 
old serpent, crawling in his filth and slime, or as 
a roaring lion from his den, " going about seeking 
whom he may devour." 

He wants diligent men, who will not spend half 
their time in idleness under the shade, eating the 
fruits of the vineyard, while others are at work ; 
but those who will labor from morning till even- 
ing, cheerfully enduring the burden and heat of 
the day. 

He wants tltorouyli-going men, who, in making 
clearings in the wilderness, will not merely lop 
off the branches, but will " lay the ax at the root 
of the tree ; " who, in laboring to reform men, will 
not be satisfied with producing an external refor- 
mation by lopping off a few prominent sins, but 
will go down deep into the heart ; and in building- 
God's temple, will not "daub with untempered 
mortar;" and when, as physicians, they attempt 
to "heal the hurt of the daughter of his people," 
they will not do it slightly. 



216 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

He wants persevering men, who will not "put 
their hand to the plow and look back ; " who will 
not cease or relax their work because they think 
they have done enough, or are a little weary, but 
will persevere with undiminished zeal and fidelity 
until their sun has completed his course through 
the heavens, and the shadows of life's evening 
come over them. 

He wants faithful, trustworthy men in every 
respect, who need no watching lest they betray or 
neglect the interests entrusted to them, and who 
need to give no bonded securities that they will 
do as they say. 

Such is the character of the laborers wiiom God 
wants wiien he says, " Go work to-day in my vine- 
yard." It is such, I trust, as every one of you, 
my young friends, wdll try to form, and such as 
every one of you may form, God helping you. 

Fourthly : We will consider the encouragement 
there is to enter this vineyard, and to labor in it. 

1. In the first place, you will be under a good 
husbandman, who will treat you with all kindness, 
provide amply for all your necessities w r hile at 
work, and Avill often come by his Spirit, and speak 
a kind word to you in the midst of your toil ; and 
when you come to any difficulties, and find your 
foes too powerful for you, or your work too hard 
to be accomplished by your own unaided strength 
(as you will often find to be the case) , then he will 



THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 217 

defend you, yes, will himself kindly take hold and 
help you. "Fear thou not," he says ; "for I am 
with thee ; " " be not dismayed, for I am thy God ; 
I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, 
I will uphold thee with the right hand of my 
righteousness." Though in yourselves you are 
weak, yet in him you are strong, and can do all 
things. He will thus cheer you, sympathize with 
you, provide for you, defend and aid you while at 
work. He will also pay you most liberally at the 
close of the day, infinitely more than you have 
earned or deserve. And he is a good paymaster 
and will do as he says. 

Another encouragement is, the work you are 
called to perform, thoughhard and difficult, is never- 
theless infinitely important and interesting . All 
other employments, compared with labors with and 
for God in his vineyard, for the advancement of 
his kingdom, the salvation of souls, and the con- 
version of the world, are trifling and without inter- 
est. What more noble, dignified, heart-stirring, 
heavenly labor can we possibly engage in than to 
be " co-workers together with God " in doing good, 
especially the unspeakable good of saving our 
fellow-beings from a miserable eternity, and pre- 
paring them for the infinite joys of heaven ? Who 
would not spend and be spent in such a service, 
and for such an object, without thinking of either 
the sacrifice or the reward? This was the great 



218 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

work of our Saviour, and it is a work worthy of a 
God. 

Another encouragement for entering the Lord's 
vineyard and laboring in it, is certainty of success. 
It is a great damper to our zeal, when we under- 
take, or think of undertaking, any enterprise, to 
feel that, do the best we can, it is very uncertain 
whether we shall accomplish anything. But in our 
labors for God, in his cause, there is no such uncer- 
tainty. The holiness and the veracity of Jehovah 
are pledged to give success to the faithful ser- 
vant. "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing 
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with 
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Labor 
spent in God's vineyard can never be lost. If his 
servants break up the fallow ground, sow the seed, 
and bestow all necessary culture, he will not with- 
hold the fertilizing dews of his grace, nor the 
quickening rains of the Holy Spirit, but will 
bestow both in large measure, so that every seed 
sown shall take root, and spring up, and bear 
fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hun- 
dred fold. 

I conclude with a single word in relation to the 
final results of thus spending the day of life in dili- 
gent, faithful labors in God's vineyard. At its 
close, the laborers will all be assembled to receive 
their reward, and every man will receive according 
as he hath done. To each one who has "patiently 



THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 219 

continued in well-doing, the Lord of the vineyard 
will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant: 
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
make thee ruler over many things ; enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." And for them shall 
be prepared scepters, crowns, and thrones. Then 
shall they who have turned many to righteous- 
ness shine as stars in the firmament forever and 
ever. 

May this reward be yours, my young friends, 
and it certainly will, if you remain true to the 
last, doing your duty faithfully, bearing cheer- 
fully and manfully " the burden and heat of the 
day." 



220 pastor's counsels to young christians. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
The Christian at the Close or Life. 

Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might 
finish my course with joy. — Acts 20 : 24. 

I HAVE been addressing you, my youthful 
friends, in the preceding chapters, on the rela- 
tions, duties, and responsibilities of life. I wish, 
in this chapter, to direct your attention to the 
period when life shall close. I do not know 
whether the announcement of my subject strikes 
you pleasantly or painfully. Young people gen- 
erally do not take much satisfaction in thinking of 
leaving the world, unless they are Christians ; and 
not even then, unless they are in a spiritual frame 
of mind. I hope, however, that you are not 
strangers to this subject, — that you have so often 
meditated on it, and have made so thorough a prep- 
aration for leaving the world, that the thought of 
it does not give you pain or dread. This subject is 
as truly a practical one for any one of you, as it is for 
those of threescore years and ten ; for you must 
die as well as they, and it may be quite as soon, 
and even sooner. But should you live to their 



THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OE LITE. 221 

age, that period will very soon be here. You are 
running a race, and whether it be longer or shorter, 
you will soon come to the goal. Life will pass 
away with a rapidity of which you can form no 
adequate conception. Your days are but a span, 
"an inch or two of time.'* They fly like a mes- 
sage upon the wires of the telegraph, and finish 
their course in an infinitely shorter space of time, 
comparing the period of human life with eternity. 
You are now looking to the future with much in- 
terest. The world lies before you. You are full of 
hope, and perhaps of enthusiasm, and often antici- 
pate where you shall be. and what you shall do. when 
you shall have entered fully upon the active stage 
of life. You hope for prosperity and happiness. 
"I sympathize with you. and sincerely wish for you 
the same. But it is important that you look for- 
ward, not only to life in its progress, but to life at 
its close. How will lite terminate? How do you 
expect to finish your course ? When you come to 
lie down upon the bed of death, do you expect to 
be filled with joy and peace ? It is desirable that 
this should be the case. Paul regarded the happy 
termination of life as more important than any 
worldly good. "I count not my life dear unto 
myself." says he. " so that I might finish my .course 
with joy." It will be of but very little consequence 
what sufferings, trials, and privations you meet 
with here, provided you finish your course with 



222 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

joy. And unless you do thus finish it, all worldly 
prosperity will do you much more harm than good. 

There is a great difference in the closing scenes 
and feelings of persons who may be said to finish 
their course with joy, — those, too, whom we have 
reason to believe are sincere Christians. Some 
depart in triumph. Their souls are filled with 
ecstasy ; and, before quitting the body, seem to 
soar, as on angels' wings, to the third heaven. 
Their countenances are lighted up by a celestial 
radiance, like that of Stephen when committing 
his departing spirit to his glorified Redeemer. 
Like him, they have a mental vision of Christ 
upon his throne of mercy, and, while lingering 
upon the bed of death, commence the song which 
they will sing, with transporting delight, to all 
eternity. The chamber of death is transformed 
into the vestibule of heaven. Such was the dying 
scene of Jane way, Finley, Pay son, Evarts, and 
many more that might be mentioned. Their course 
was finished, not with joy merely, but with rapture. 

Another class of Christians finish their course in 
a calm, loving trust in Christ ; with no ecstasies, 
no visions ; but with a faith as unshaken as the 
everlasting hills, and with a "peace which passeth 
all understanding." They are not oppressed with 
doubts and apprehensions in regard to their good 
estate ; but, with a heavenly composure, gently 
lean on Jesus' bosom, and "breathe their lives out 



THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 223 

sweetly there." They are glad to leave the world, 
that they may go home to dwell in their Father's 
house in heaven. Their hope of salvation is based 
solely on the merits of Jesus Christ, and not on any- 
thing good in themselves, for they feel altogether 
unworthy of any favor. But, believing in Christ, 
they are tranquil and happy. 

Now, both of these classes of Christians " finish 
their course with joy." The former is a highly 
privileged class, which embraces a small number, 
comparatively, of those who, we have reason to 
believe, are Christ's real disciples. But the ab- 
sence of those raptures is no evidence of a want of 
piety. Those transports are to be regarded as 
the special gift of God, which he dispenses 
according to the counsel of his own will ; and by 
some Christians, however much grace they may 
possess, these raptures may not be attainable. 

But the calm, peaceful, holy joy of the latter 
class is the privilege of us all, and one which we 
ought to look forward to, and make preparation 
for. 

Let us, therefore, dwell a little more at length 
upon such a close of a consistent, heavenly-minded, 
Christian pilgrim's life. 

He "finishes his course with joy." We will 
consider for a few moments the source of that joy, 
and the ingredients of which it is composed. 

The faithful Christian, when finishing his course, 



224 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

rejoices that he has reached the end of his journey. 
Life has been to him a checkered scene. It has 
had its sunlight and clouds, its joys and its sor- 
rows, its pleasures and its pains. He has enjoyed 
much, and he has suffered much. He has seen 
some good, and a great deal of evil. It has been, 
upon the whole, a weary and a toilsome pilgrimage, 
and he is glad that it is over. He would not go back 
and make it again, if the whole world were held 
out to him as a temptation. The troubles, the 
anxieties, the pains, the sickness, and the afflic- 
tions which were his companions most of the way, 
he now takes leave of forever, and it is to him a 
source of great satisfaction. As he now looks 
back upon the world, gradually fading from his 
view, he is astonished at himself, when he reflects 
how it once engrossed his affections, and how 
reluctant he was to part with it. 

He rejoices in the grace of God, which led him to 
repent of his sins and consecrate himself to Christ. 
The time was, when he was a thoughtless, impeni- 
tent sinner, " without God, and without hope in 
the world," going on without concern in the broad 
road down to the chambers of eternal death. But 
God in mercy arrested him in his career of sin, and 
led him by his Holy Spirit to the Saviour, to whom 
he consecrated himself for time and eternity. 
What joy it affords him now, as he is dying, 
that he was not let alone in his sins to perish, but 



THE CHRISTIAX AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 225 

was constrained by God's grace to forsake his 
course of iniquity, and the unsatisfying pleasures 
of earth, for an interest in the Saviour. If this 
was done in early life, this consideration enhances 
his joy, and he wishes it had been earlier still. 

He rejoices that by God's help he has not lived 
altogether in vain. He has been enabled to do 
some g:ood to his fellow-men, and something for 
the cause of Christ. His endeavor has been to 
follow the Saviour, through evil as well as through 
good report, and every effort made during his life 
for the advancement of religion and the salvation 
of souls is reviewed with a holy pleasure. Not 
that he takes any credit for what he has done, or 
congratulates himself upon his own righteousness, 
for he feels that after all he has been an " unprofit- 
able servant," and that in himself there has been 
no good thing ; but he adores that grace which 
first called him into the vineyard, and kept him 
in it, and crowned with success his imperfect efforts 
to be useful. To God's grace he ascribes all the 
good he has done ; still he rejoices to think that 
God condescended to use him as an unworthy 
instrument in accomplishing his designs of love 
and mercy to a lost world. How differently does 
he feel on the review of a faithful, holy, devoted 
life, — a life of prayer, of self-denial, of consistent, 
exemplary piety, — from what he would of a life of 
lukewarmness or coldness, of spiritual indolence, 



226 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

of conformity to the world, and of self-indulgence ; 
and himself scarcely saved; yet "so as by fire !" 
The grand aim of his life has been to honor Christ 
and save souls, and he has the satisfaction to know 
that his labors have not been in vain. God has 
kindly owned and blessed them. 

Again, he rejoices thai he is about to be freed 
from sin. The greatest burden of his life has 
been sin ! It has caused him more trouble, more 
anxiety, more pain, more grief, than all things 
else. He has seen sin, and its evil effects, all 
around him. Sin among the ungodly, — open, 
outrageous, blasphemous sin, pouring contempt 
upon the Saviour and his cross ! He has seen sin 
among his brethren, often bringing religion into 

£5 ' (Doc) 

contempt : but, most of all, sin in his own heart 
and life ! From the day of his espousals to Christ 
till now, he has been obliged to maintain a con- 
stant warfare between the "flesh and the spirit,'' 
the "old man and the new." When he would do 
good, evil has been present with him. A law 
in his members has ever been warring against the 
law of his mind, often bringing him into captivity 
to the law of sin and death ; so that he has fre- 
quently been led to exclaim : " O wretched man 
that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body 
of this death?" 

This struggle is now almost over. The battle 
has been fought, and most vigorously contested 



o 



THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 227 

on both sides ; but the victory is his. The enemy 
has been vanquished, not by his prowess and 
might, but by the strength derived from the Cap- 
tain of his salvation, and he will never be har- 
assed by him more. Well ma}' the Christian 
rejoice in the prospect of deliverance from an evil 
which has been the bane of his life, and which has 
caused the bitterest tears he ever shed. He has 
not only done with sin himself, but he is to be 
removed from its influence and its annoyance. 
He has all his life associated, to a certain extent, 
with sinners; he is to do so no more. He has 
been constantly assailed and harassed by tempta- 
tions, but this trial is over. 

" Sin, his worsr enemy before. 
Shall vex his eves and ears no more ; 
His inward foes will all be slain, 
Nor Satan break his peace again." 

He rejoices in the -presence and strengthening 
grace of Christ, The Saviour has never been so 
precious to him as now. His promise that he 
would never leave nor forsake his people he finds 
amply verified in his happy experience. His 
presence dissipates the gloom of the chamber of 
death, and lights up the dark valley through which 
he is passing. The •Saviour gives strength and 
patience to endure the pains inflicted by the sting 
of the fell destroyer, and imparts a holy tranquillity 
to the soul. The dying believer rests calmly and 



228 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

securely upon that sure foundation-stone on which 
his hopes were builded years ago ; and he finds 
that no floods or tempests can shake it. Christ is 
everything, and even more than he had ever con- 
ceited him to be ; he is all in all : he is a friend 
exa-ctly adapted to his present wants, and " stick- 
eth closer than a brother." His voice is heard 
amid the agitations and tumults of dissolving 
nature, which would otherwise distract and over- 
whelm the soul, saying, "Peace, be still ; fear not, 
thou worm of Jacob, for I am with thee; I will 
be thy light, thy support, thy comfort, and thy 
defence." "Yes," responds the believer; "into 
thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou hast re- 
deemed me. Though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for 
thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they 
comfort me." " Oh, how precious is Christ !" 

" His name yields the richest perfume, 
And. sweeter than music his voice ; 
His presence disperses my gloom, 
And bids all within me rejoice." 

Although, as I have already remarked, there is 
a great difference in the experiences of truly good 
men when they come to die, some being much 
more transported with joy than others ; yet it is 
generally true of all who have been in a good 
measure faithful and true to their professions, 
that Christ is extremely precious to them, and 



THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 229 

puts beneath them his everlasting arms, and keeps 
them from sinking in the deep waters. 

Again, the faithful Christian, in finishing his 
course, rejoices in view of his promised rest. He 
feels that he is on the confines of heaven. The 
world with its scenes — ever fitful and changing — 
is gradually receding from his view, till finally it 
disappears. He sees it depart without regret. 
He has had enough of it. It has been a deceitful, 
unsatisfying world. It has always disappointed 
his expectations, and often betrayed him into sin. 
He turns his eyes from it, without one tear of sor- 
row at parting, to the better land, and rejoices in 
hope. He knows that Christ has prepared for him 
a mansion in his Father's house, and to this he 
knows he will shortly be admitted with a cordial 
welcome. There will be found all that can delight 
and bless the soul. The vail is in a measure drawn 
aside, and he is permitted to have some glimpses 
of the Xew Jerusalem, the city of God, adorned 
with everything beautiful, as a bride is adorned 
for her husband. That city is to be his home for- 
ever, and there is only a step between him and it. 
There he will rest from his toils, be freed from his 
troubles, purified from his sins, and be forever 
blessed with his Lord. 

May it be your happy lot, my young friends, 
thus to finish your course ; and that you may, let 
me urge you to be faithful in running the Christian 



230 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

race. Do your duty every day with so much 
fidelity, that the retrospect of life shall afford you 
comfort when you are reclining on the bed of 
death. 'Cultivate such familiar intercourse with 
Christ now, and through the rest of your pil- 
grimage, that you can with the utmost confi- 
dence rely upon him to sustain and comfort you 
in the trying hour. You will need him then ; 
you cannot do without him then. You will find 
it a serious thing to die ; and vet it will be most 
delightful to die, if you can feel that Jesus is with 
you in that hour. 



THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 231 



CHAPTER XVII. 
The Christian in Heaven. 

. . . Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered 
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared 
for them that love him. — 1 Cor. 2 : 9. 

IN the last chapter we considered the Christian 
at the close of life ; in the present chapter, 
and the following, we will consider the Christian 
in heaven. 

We will suppose that he has lived a consistent, 
holy life, faithfully discharging his duty to God 
and man ; that he has been a good soldier, has 
fought a good fight, kept the faith, and " finished 
his course with joy." He has peacefully closed 
his eyes in death and bid the world farewell. It 
is now a most interesting inquiry, Where does 
the spirit go? and what is its condition? 

The light of nature alone gives only vague 
answers to these questions. It is to be pre- 
sumed that the soul survives the body, and that 
it is in a state of conscious enjoyment ; but 
where, and with whom, we should be left to con- 
jecture. There is a darkness overshadowing the 
grave which the unassisted eye of reason could 



232 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

never penetrate. But the gospel of Jesus Christ 
comes to our aid. It partially raises the curtain, 
and, although it does not give us a full view, it 
affords us some most interesting but indistinct 
visions of what lies beyond it. Life and immor- 
tality are here brought to light by Jesus Christ 
and confirmed by his own resurrection and ascen- 
sion. A perfect knowledge of the state of the 
soul of the believer, as it leaves the body, and 
of its condition in the future world, can never be 
had till we learn from experience. As the apostle 
says : "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man, the things 
which God hath prepared for them that love him." 
He does not mean by this that we can have no 
idea of the condition and enjoyments of the right- 
eous after death, for he immediately adds, "But 
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit ; " 
?'. e., to a certain extent. There is just enough 
revealed to dispel our doubts, and to cheer and 
animate our hopes, and to stimulate us to a dil- 
igent preparation for that rest which remaineth 
for the people of God. 

Let us, then, for a few moments, turn our at- 
tention to the believer, who, by the grace of God, 
has run with patience and diligence the race set 
before him, and has finished his course with joy. 
He dies. The world fades from his sight ; he 
hears the last words of kindness from weeping 



THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 233 



friends, exchanges with them the last pressure of 
the hand, receives the parting kiss, the eyes 
grow dim, the breath grows shorter and shorter, 
the pulse quicker and fainter, till at last the lips 
and the eyes are fixed, the heart ceases to beat, 
and the earthly scene is closed ! But the spirit — 
where is that? and whither does it go? Does it 
go into a state of insensibility? or is it still in a 
state of conscious existence ? Does it remain here 
on the earth, or does it pass into another world? 
We are left in no doubtful state of uncertainty here. 
Our Saviour said that the soul of Lazarus was 
"carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." 
He told the thief on the cross, f? To-day shalt thou 
be with me in paradise.*' He spoke also of Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob as being then alive in 
another world. Closes and Elias appeared to the 
disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. 

We hence learn that the soul of the believer at 
death is immediately conveyed to heaven. It is 
not at all irrational or improbable, that "minister- 
ing spirits " are commissioned to be its convoy to 
that unseen and unknown world. Our Lord coun- 
tenances this idea when he speaks of the angels 
conducting Lazarus to the embraces of Abraham. 
So may angels be ever hovering around the couch 
of the dying Christian, waiting to congratulate 
him on the moment of his release from his prison 
of clay, to bear him on their wings to the abodes 



234 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 

of the blessed. But it is not possible for us to 
know certainly how the disembodied spirit finds 
its way to the better land, or how it is conveyed 
thither. It is enough for us to know that God 
will provide a short, a safe, and an easy transit 
for the disencumbered spirit from earth to heaven. 

Let us carry our thoughts a little farther on- 
ward, and consider the Christian's final home, and 
the sources of his happiness after he arrives there. 

The Christian's home is heaven, the paradise 
spoken of by our Saviour, the New Jerusalem 
revealed in vision to the Apostle John. 

It is a most interesting inquiry, What and 
where is heaven? To these questions we can 
give only approximate answers. We can say, 
however, with a great deal of confidence, that 
heaven is a place, and has a definite location some- 
where in the vast creation of God. It is every- 
where thus spoken of in the Scriptures. We 
have as much evidence that heaven is a place, 
with its own peculiar scenery, and its own posi- 
tion in space, as we have that Eden had, or that 
London has at the present time. Christ spoke of 
having come from heaven and of going to heaven. 
The prayer which he gave as a model for all his 
disciples, represents heaven as being the peculiar 
dwelling-place of God. He spoke of going home 
to his Father's house, and that he would "prepare 
a place " for his followers. Christ had a mate- 



THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEX. 235 

rial body after his resurrection, with which he 
ascended. Enoch and Elijah each had bodies in 
which they were translated. These bodies still 
exist. Where are they? They are not in this 
world, we know. There must be, from the very 
nature of things, a place or a position in space 
for them to occupy. And so of the bodies of the 
saints who rose with Christ after his crucifixion, 
and of those who shall rise at the last day. These 
bodies all are substance, capable of locomotion, of 
going from place to place, and they must be some- 
where, and cannot be omnipresent. They must 
have a place in which to exist and to exert their 
functions as truly as our own must have on earth. 
In my opinion, those persons are mistaken, and 
know not whereof they affirm, who assert that 
heaven is not a place, and has no definite locality, 
but is only a state or condition of the mind. 
There is a vagueness and an indefiniteness in all 
such representations of heaven, entirely unlike 
anything we find in the Bible, and which fall alto- 
gether below the grandeur, dignity, and beauty 
of the subject. By speaking of heaven as being 
anywhere and everywhere, they do, in fact, make 
it nowhere, and divest it of a large portion of its 
attractions. 

1. It is most rational to suppose that heaven is a 
material v:orld, as truly so as the planet on which 
we live, and that it has its definite location, and 



its fixed physical laws, as much as the sun has, or 
any of the stars. There is a reluctance in some 
minds to admit that matter or materiality can 
have anything to do with heaven, or can be adapted 
to the wants, or conducive to the happiness of 
spiritual being. Matter, they say, is gross and 
degrading. 

But this is not only an unwarranted asser- 
tion, but it is a reflection upon the wisdom and 
goodness of God. What is matter? and whence 
came it? It is the handiwork of Gocl. There is 
as much that is incomprehensible in it as there is in 
spirit, and it as clearly demonstrates the power and 
w 7 isdom of its author. Matter is a medium through 
w^hich God has ever delighted to manifest himself. 
Look at the sun and moon and the countless 
myriads of stars that bedeck the heavens ; what 
are they? They are all matter. This we know, 
just as certainly as we know that this world is 
matter, and that our bodies are matter. This is 
fully proved to a demonstration. Some, at least, of 
the physical laws w r hich govern our world, govern 
the worlds above us. They have their motions in 
space, their solidity, their cohesive attraction, 
their gravitation, and their revolutions upon their 
axes and in their orbits. The whole created uni- 
verse (mind excepted) is made up of matter; 
and it is all God's work, and is w T orthy of the 
hand that made it out of nothing, and it manifests 



THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAVEN. 237 

his glory. God takes delight in these worlds or 
he would not have made them what they are. 

God interests himself in matter, not only on this 
stupendous scale, in the structure of worlds, suns, 
and systems, but in forms and objects most 
minute. Look at the animal creation, from the 
elephant and mastodon to the smallest creeping 
thing ; from the ostrich of the wilderness to the 
minutest insect that sports in the sunbeam ; from 
the leviathan of the deep to the microscopic 
animalcule that floats in a drop of water : they 
are all creatures of God, and they are formed of 
matter. Look at the vegetable world, from the 
cedar of Lebanon to a blade of grass, or the moss 
that grows upon the rocks : what a wonderful 
variety of forms : what beauty of colors : what 
delicacy of structure ! Consider the lilies of the 
field, more gorgeously attired than was " Solomon 
in all his glory.*' Look at the exquisite taste and 
artistic skill displayed in the pencilling of the 
rose, the blue-bell, the violet, and the ten thou- 
sand flowers that adorn the field or parterre. God 
is the artist who created and painted them all. 
And yet they are all matter. Shall God have so 
much to do with matter, shall the material heavens 
declare his glory, shall he please himself by mold- 
ing matter into such a numberless variety of forms 
and painting it with such inimitable beauty and 
delicacy of hue, and shall we call matter gross 



238 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 

and degrading, and say that a material world is 
not fit for his dwelling-place, and that of spiritual, 
holy beings ? "When God created material things 
he pronounced them all "good" and not only 
so, but " very good," and it is a reflection 
on him to speak disparagingly of them. We 
know that in God's estimation a material world is 
a fit residence for holy beings, and that spirit is 
not degraded by being intimately associated with 
matter. God created man in his own image, a 
holy being, and placed him in a material world — 
a material paradise — as a place suitable for his 
holy nature and his holy character. For man's 
spirit (whose essence will be the same in heaven 
that it was on earth) God prepared a material 
body, as an appropriate residence for it. If it 
was so once, why may it not be again? Xo one 
can show why it may not. I suppose one reason, 
and the principal one, why persons have been 
so unwilling to admit the existence of a material 
heaven is, they associate matter with sin ; whereas 
matter has no more to do with sin, necessarily, 
than holiness has. God cursed this world for 
man's sake ; that is, he cursed the productions of 
it, or caused it to produce what would be a curse ; 
but God did not curse the materials of which the 
world is made — much less did he curse matter 
itself. 

It is therefore probable to my mind that heaven 



THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 239 

is not only a place, definitely located, but that it 
is a material world, bearing an analogy, or resem- 
blance, to all the other worlds which God has 
made. All Scripture representations of heaven 
are as if it were material. It was undoubtedly 
the first world of his creation, and was then a type, 
so to speak, of all that were to follow. 

2. Where is heaven? If it be a place, as the 
Scriptures represent, and a material world, as an- 
alogy, and reason, and the manner in which it is 
spoken of in the Bible seem to indicate, what is 
its position ? where is it situated ? To this ques- 
tion we can give only a probable answer. The 
Bible speaks of God and heaven as being "above" 
us. " The Lord looked down from heaven upon 
the children of men." David looked "up" to the 
everlasting hills. Elijah went "up" to heaven. 
The Saviour " came down from heaven," and he 
"ascended up to heaven," when, after his resurrec- 
tion, he parted from his disciples. The apostle 
tells us that the Lord, when he comes to judg- 
ment, shall " descend from heaven with a shout," 
and that those who are alive shall be "caught up." 
These expressions do not, however, give us any 
definite information on the subject. "Down," 
and "up," we all know, are relative terms. They 
relate only to this world. " Down " means toward 
the center of the earth, wherever we stand upon 
it, and " up " means away from that center, in any 



240 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

direction. Hence, the earth being spherical, up 
in one place would be in exactly the opposite 
direction to what it would be in another. It 
would be impossible to leave this world, go which 
way we will, without going up. In the absence 
of positive information, the most probable suppo- 
sition is, that heaven, the throne of God, is in the 
center of all his works, — a vast globe, of almost 
unlimited dimensions, which constitutes the ceuter 
of physical attraction of all material worlds in the 
universe.* The science of astronomy reveals to 
us certain interesting facts, which serve to afford, 
if not proof, at least plausibility, and even proba- 
bility, to this theory. The universal law which 
God has established for the heavenly bodies, so 
far as we can ascertain, is, that they all revolve 
in circular or elliptical orbits around a center 
toward which they gravitate. In our solar system 
small bodies revolve around larger ones, and these 
in their turn revolve around larger ones still. 
We see moons revolving around the planets, and 
the planets, with moons in their train, revolving 
around the sun, and the sun we know to be in 
motion, carrying with him his larger family of 
planets, satellites, and comets. Now where is th'3 
sun ^oinof with his numerous retinue ? Is he wan- 
dering off at random through the heavens, without 

* See Dick's Philosophy of a* Future State ; an interesting 
treatise. 



THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAYEX. 241 

any order, and without any law to direct or regu- 
late his movements ? This would not be in analogy 
with nature. It would be irrational to suppose 
that God woulclbestow so much attention upon the 
component parts of the system, carefully adjust- 
ing with infinite skill and wisdom each member 
in its orbit, and giving laws, which operate with 
undeviating precision, to guide and regulate this 
complicated machinery, and then send the entire 
system itself wandering through space without 
order and without law. We cannot suppose he 
would bestow so much pains upon the less, and 
none upon the greater, in which the less are in- 
volved. 

If, then, the sun, with more than fifty worlds 
in his train, including comets, is not wandering at 
random through space, to what law or laws is he 
subject? Xo doubt to the great fundamental law 
of gravitation, combined Avith a projectile force; 
in other words, he is performing a magnificent, 
sublime revolution around a grand center of 
attraction, in the same manner that the planets, 
with their minuter systems, revolve around him- 
self. And the sun is not alone, but is one of 
many millions performing harmoniously the same 
circuit ; for accurate observation has demonstrated 
that the fixed stars, as they are called, are not 
really fixed, but are in motion. It is supposed by 
astronomers that our sun is onlv a single member 



242 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

of the galaxy, or milky way, and that all are mov- 
ing together in the same general direction. Now 
what can be more philosophical, or more plausible, 
than that there is, in the center of the universe, a 
vast globe of inconceivable dimensions, which, by 
the powder of God, exerted through the law of 
gravitation, controls the movements of these innu- 
merable heavenly bodies, and keeps each system 
in its place, as in concert they perform their long 
cycles of myriads of ages. Not only does this 
seem rational and probable, but do not the discov- 
ered laws of physics, which are none other than 
laws of God, seem to demand that such must be 
the case ? 

Now if this be so, what fitter place for heaven, 
and for the throne of Him 

" Who rolls the spheres, 
And storm, and fire, and hail prepares, 

And guides this vast machine ; 
Whose piercing eye at once surveys, 
Where thousand suns and systems blaze " 

— of Him who M sitteth upon the circle of the 
earth," who " stretcheth out the heavens as a cur- 
tain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in ?" 
What fitter place for angels, and for all the 
redeemed, to dwell in, situated here in the very 
center of God's glorious works as they revolve 
around, 

"Forever singing as they shine, 

1 The hand that made us is divine ; ' " 



THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAVEN. 243 

ready, as his swift messengers, to fly at any moment 
to the nearest or most distant star, to execute the 
divine behests, in performing errands of love and 
mercy ? 

3, The magnitude of heaven. 

There are two considerations which lead to the 
conclusion that the size and extent of that world 
must be vast beyond all conception. 

First, if it be the physical center of matter, and 
holds the unnumbered millions of suns and systems 
in their places by the power of gravitation, how 
almost infinite its dimensions must be ! The sun, 
which is only a minute speck in God's firmament, 
in order to control and regulate the planets which 
revolve around him, must be 1,400,000 times 
larger than the world we inhabit. If such be 
the size of the sun, what must be the physical 
magnitude of a sphere which would control, not 
only the sun with his train, but millions upon mil- 
lions of others like it, with their attendant systems? 

Secondly, heaven must be of vast magnitude 
when we consider the countless midtitude of its 
inhabitants. It must be sufficient to accommodate 
the holy angels, who are called "God's host," or 
great multitude, and who the apostle, in the epis- 
tle to the Hebrews, says are an " innumerable 
company." And to these must be added all the 
redeemed from among men, from Adam to the 
last of his race, and all who have been, or may be, 



244 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

translated thither from other worlds. The apostle 
John saw there a " multitude which no man can 
number, ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
thousands of thousands." 

4. The appearance of heaven, as seen by its 
blessed inhabitants. Mortal eye hath not seen it, 
nor the heart conceived of it to any considerable 
extent ; but from the limited description given of 
it by the pen of inspiration, we are assured that it 
must be surpassingly magnificent and beautiful. 
All the enchanting landscapes, combining hill and 
dale, mountains, plains, valleys, flowery meads, 
emerald lawns, crystal lakes, roaring cataracts, 
musical cascades, murmuring rivulets, sparkling 
fountains, beautiful gardens, pieasure-grounds, 
walks, arbors, shade-trees, splendid domes, 
arches, temples, towers, palaces, and every- 
thing else that men call beautiful in this world, 
are nothing in comparison with the scenery of 
heaven ; they are perfectly tame and uninteresting, 
when contemplated by the side of the heavenly 
Canaan and the New Jerusalem, as revealed to St. 
John in the isle of Patmos. The apostle says : 
" The angel carried me away in the spirit to a great 
and high mountain, and showed me that great city, 
the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from 
God, having the glory of God, and her light was 
like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper 
stone 5 clear as crystal/' He then <roes on to 



THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 245 

describe its pearly gates, and its walls and founda- 
tion stones of gems. But these are only the 
exterior of the city. The scenery within was too 
magnificent and beautiful to be described. He 
saw " streets of gold ; " a " ? sea of glass like unto 
crystal ; " the river of the water of life ; the 
tree of life bearing twelve manner of fruits ; and 
there he saw the Throne of God and the Lamb, 
which he does not attempt to describe. The de- 
scription which John gives of what he saw in 
heaven, can give us only a proximate idea of its 
glories, and probably he himself had only a dim 
foreshadowing of the reality. Reason, as well as 
revelation, teaches us that the God who made the 
flowers is infinite in taste and skill ; and if he 
made so many and such exquisitely beautiful 
things to adorn this little speck of earth, — the 
abode of poor, degraded, fallen man, — what must 
he have done to beautify and render delightful his 
own blessed abode, and the world where he has, 
if I may so speak, exhausted all his skill in fitting 
it up for the delightful residence of his own beloved 
children? "I go," said our Saviour, "to prepare 
a place for you." Note the expression — " I go to 
prepare a place for you." What a beautiful place, 
and what a beautiful world must that be, which 
the kind, benevolent, loving Jesus, in his almighty 
power, and with his infinite resources, has pre- 
pared and is preparing for all his dear disciples 3 



246 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

whose names he has engraven upon his heart ! 
This, my friends, is the place prepared for you if 
you are Christ's sincere disciples. 

I have occupied your attention in this chapter 
in speaking of the philosophy of heaven. I have 
dwelt chiefly on its physical properties, not by 
any means because they are the most important, 
but because they have an importance which is fre- 
quently overlooked and undervalued. Heaven is 
too often described by negatives. It is not a place, 
it is said ; it has no locality ; it is not matter ; 
nothing is seen there ; nothing is heard there. 
Thus this negative description is continued, till 
heaven is stripped of everything attractive to most 
minds, and is left a mere blank. It is like divest- 
ing a man of his hearing, his seeing, his feeling, 
his tasting, and smelling, and leaving him nothing 
but thought. Now I do not deny but such a man 
might, to a certain extent, be happy — happier, 
indeed, by far, than if his senses were all spared 
and the power of thought taken away. But he 
needs the whole to perfect his happiness. And so 
does heaven need its physical, external properties 
to render it perfect, and they are much dwelt upon 
in the sacred Scriptures, and they are spoken of, 
not as myths, but realities. 

But I have only entered upon my subject. I 
have not yet spoken of those things which consti- 
tute the chief attractions of heaven, and which go 



THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAVEN. 247 

to make up the principal blessedness of the soul 
of the departed and glorified Christian. This 
most important part of the subject we will consider 
in the next chapter. 

I shall close this chapter by suggesting to my 
3 T oung friends, and to all of you, my readers, the 
importance of often making heaven a subject of 
j^our contemplations. You will find it to conduce 
much to your spirituality and happiness. It is to be 
your home, your eternal home, if you are the true 
children of God ; and that very soon. 

Christians do not think of heaven enough. It 
is crowded out of the mind by the pressure of other 
things. The consequence is, they lose, in a meas- 
ure, their interest in it and make but little effort 
to secure it. Heaven is not to them an object of 
longing desire, but merely a city of refuge from 
threatened evil. They know that they must die, 
and they would much rather go to heaven than to 
hell ; but they would rather stay in this world than 
do either, especially if they could have its riches 
and emoluments, and could put off old age. Let 
your minds be much on heaven, my friends. It is 
a most fruitful and delightful theme. There is 
nothing like it. Dwell on it until desire shall be 
enkindled in your bosoms to go and take posses- 
sion of it — a desire that shall completely swallow 
up all others. Keep heaven in your mental eye, 
and it will keep expanding larger and larger, until 



248 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

you can see nothing else but heaven, and the King 
who reigns in it, and the inhabitants who dwell 
there. This poor, worthless world, which assumes 
such an importance in the estimation of most per- 
sons, will dwindle to its own insignificance, and 
your spirits will pant to be freed from the shackles 
of earth, that they may soar away to that bright 
and better land, to drink at the fount of perfect 
bliss, and be forever with the Lord. 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 240 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
The Happiness of Heaven. 

I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. — Ps. 17 : 15. 

IX the last chapter we considered heaven, to 
which the Christian is conveyed from his dying 
couch, in its physical aspects ; a world of exquisite 
beauty and loveliness, and fitted up with every- 
thing that can contribute to the refined taste and 
happiness of its blessed inhabitants. But the 
chief blessedness of the Christian, when he arrives 
in heaven, will by no means consist in beholding 
its external beauties. There are emotions and 
exercises of the mind of a moral nature, which, as 
sources of happiness, infinitely surpass anything 
material in that glorious home of the righteous. 
TTe can imagine, without fear of mistake, or the 
charge of going into the region of speculation, 
what some of the ingredients in the Christian's cup 
of happiness must be when he arrives at heaven. 

1 . In the first place , he must be happy in the con- 
scious knowledge that he is saved. TThat fearful 
peril has he been in ! To what an awful doom 
has he been exposed ! Xothing less than ever- 



250 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

lasting wretchedness and despair. Once he was 
suspended over the gulf of perdition, as it were by 
a single thread, and that was liable every moment 
to be severed. But from that doom he is saved. 
He is sure of it now. There had always been 
some uncertainty about it before, although he had 
a hope which was a source of great comfort to 
him. Now, his feet stand on Mount Zion, and 
faith and hope are exchanged for a reality. 

The shipwrecked mariner, who all night has 
been dashed about among the breakers, clinging to 
a plank, in danger of being engulfed every mo- 
ment, as multitudes of his companions all around 
him have been, is at length, by a providential 
wave, rolled upon the shore. As he plants his 
feet upon the land, and the waters retire, what 
joy fills his heart as he contemplates his late 
peril, and now feels that it is all passed, and that 
he is saved. How much is implied in that one 
word, saved. What then must be the joy of the 
saint, who awakes in heaven to the consciousness 
that he is saved from hell ! 

2, Secondly, he is happy in his new mode of 
existence. He is no longer restrained in his 
movements by a cumbersome body of flesh and 
blood. He has entered upon a spiritual exist- 
ence, which, although incomprehensible by us 
while we tabernacle in the body, we have reason 
to believe bears some analogy to the life of the 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEX. 251 

beautiful, golden-winged insect, rejoicing in the 
sunshine, and making its home in the bosoms of 
the flowers, contrasted with that of the disgusting 
worm from which it sprang, crawling upon the 
earth. 

3. Thirdly , he is freed from all evil, natural 
and moral. He is relieved forever from all bodily 
pain and sickness. What a relief is this to one 
who has spent days, and weeks, and months, and 
years in some instances, in severe bodily an- 
guish, inquiring at night, "When will it be 
morning? " and in the morning, M When will it be 
evening?" tossing to and fro, and finding no rest. 
There is no pain in heaven. The inhabitants 
shall not say there, "I am sick." There are no 
losses of property, no disappointments, no anxious 
cares or solicitudes. His treasure is where 
"neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves 
do not break through nor steal." 

There are no afflictions there to rend his heart 
and cause his bosom to heave with anguish. His 
sorrows are all passed, and the last tear has been 
shed. Xo more mournful adieus, no more dis- 
tressing partings ; loved ones will never again be 
torn from his embrace. He will never suffer 
again from the ill-conduct or ill-treatment of 
others. He will experience no more ungrateful 
requitals for kindnesses shown ; he will be beyond 
the reach of slander, envy, or hatred. He was 



252 pastor's counsels to YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 

subject to all of these evils, more or less, while an 
inhabitant of earth ; but in heaven they are, and 
forever will be, unknown. 

But the greatest evil that ever troubled him 
was sin — sin in his own heart and life. When 
he would do good, evil was ever present with 
him. His transgressions multiplied, so that it 
seemed, sometimes, as if they must certainly prove 
his destruction. His love often grew cold, his 
obedience was always imperfect, and even his 
prayers were mingled with sin. Oh, how hard 
was the struggle between the flesh and the spirit ! 
how violent the conflict for the ascendency be- 
tween the old man and the new ! Often did the 
adversary, and the remaining corruptions of his 
own heart, triumph for a season over the principle 
of grace, and bring him into captivity to the law 
of sin and death. But the conflict is over now. 
The adversary will never harass him more. The 
old Adam is completely slain ; his corruptions are 
all left behind, and now his regeneration is com- 
plete, and he is entirely transformed into the 
image of Christ. To be freed from sin, was one 
of his most ardent, longing desires while making 
his earthly pilgrimage, and now that desire of his 
heart is fully gratified. He is washed from every 
defilement, and his garments are made perfectly 
white in the blood of the Lamb. 

4. Fourthly, the believer, when he reaches 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 253 

heaven, finds himself surrounded by an innumer- 
able multitude of holy beings, who joyfully wel- 
come him to their fellowship, and to a participa- 
tion of their bliss. As he looks around upon the 
happy throng, his heart is rejoiced to see many a 
dear friend with whom he held delightful inter- 
course on earth. Here, is, perhaps. — and surely 
will be. in many case-. — a sainted father or 
mother, or both, who by prayer and baptism, con- 
secrated him in infancy to God. and who by pre- 
cept and example, as he grew in years, strove to 
guide his too wayward feet in the paths of wisdom 
and holiness: who watched over and couns: 
him while they lived, and left him a parental 
blessing at their death. There, perhaps, he 
greets beloved brothers and sisters, to whom he 
was most tenderly attached on earth, who went 
before him into heaven, and lefc him mourning 
their departure. 

There, too. will the parent recognize a sweet 
babe, snatched from earth like a bud broken from its 
stem ; or. it may be. a lovely youth, cut down like a 
rose, just as it was opening its petals to bestow its 
fragrance upon those who had tenderly watched 
over and nurtured it. But among all the recoo-- 
nition- of earthly friends in the heavenly state. 
none will be more interesting than that of loved 
comj} The husband will again see the 

wife of his bosom, whom death tore from his 



254 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

embrace, and the wife will again rejoice in the 
presence of him on whom she once leaned as 
her support, affectionate counsellor, and guide, 
although the marriage relation will not be re- 
sumed. Pastors will recognize the pious mem- 
bers of their flocks ; and those who were members 
of Christ's church, and his real disciples, will dis- 
tinguish from all others, the faithful shepherd who 
fed them with the bread of life and led them to 
the fountain of living waters. Christian neigh- 
bors and friends, who on earth took sweet coun- 
sel together, and who rf went to the house of God 
in company," and delighted in each other's society 
and friendship, will exchange mutual greetings 
again on the heavenly hills, and resume their long- 
interrupted intercourse. That friends will thus 
know and recognize each other in heaven, I have 
no doubt. Besides these familiar friends, who 
were once so precious to him on earth, the soul of 
the believer will see in heaven the " saints of all 
ages," from every kindred, tongue, and people, 
the apostles, prophets, and patriarchs of olden 
time, and the noble company of martyrs, of whom 
the world was not worthy, and who sealed their 
testimony with their blood. And in addition to 
these, he will see an innumerable company of 
pure, holy intelligences that never sinned, — 
angels who dwell in God's presence, and are 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 255 

embassadors to do his will, and to cany messages 
of love to all parts of his intelligent creation. 

This is the kind of society to which we shall be 
introduced on our arrival in heaven. I say we, 
for I am fondly anticipating we shall all be 
there. What a source of happiness it must be to 
be surrounded by such friends, to hold inter- 
course with them, to love them, and be beloved by 
them all. How pleasant to hold communion 
again with those dear ones we loved on earth. 
How precious those greetings, and how delight- 
ful to roam with them the green fields of the 
heavenly Canaan, or sit with them beneath the 
bowers of Paradise, and talk of the love of Jesus. 
of the grace that saved our souls from eternal 
perdition, and of the way in which God led our 
wandering; feet from the broad road into the 
straight and narrow path of life. And then we will 
recall the various methods his love constrained 
him to use to keep us in it. Sometimes he led 
us by mercies, and sometimes he drove us by the 
rod. But all was kindness, and designed to bring 
us safe to heaven. How pleasant it will be to 
mingle in the social circle for holy converse with 
the great-hearted Paul, the warm-hearted Peter, 
and the tender-hearted John, and hear from their 
own lips the thousands of interesting incidents of 
their own lives, and of the life of Jesus, "the which 
if they should be written, every one, even the 



256 pastok's counsels to young chkistians. 

world itself could not contain the hooks that 
should be written." How soul-inspiring to listen 
to heavenly themes from the fervid and hallowed 
lips of Isaiah. How delighful to hold converse 
with David, and Samuel, and Moses, and Joseph, 
and his father Jacob, and his grandfather Isaac, 
and his great-grandfather Abraham, and so on, 
back to Noah, and Enoch, and even to our great 
progenitor, Adam. What inexhaustible sources 
of information and instruction will the redeemed 
find treasured up in the hearts and memories of 
those men, and what a privilege to see them face 
to face, and exchange thoughts with them. But a 
greater privilege still will it be to hold intercourse 
with that higher order of intelligences to whose 
friendship and society the Christian will be 
received in heaven, — a host of pure, happy beings 
who have never sinned. They have ever taken a 
deep interest in man ; they rejoiced in his creation 
and conversion ; and they rejoice still more in 
welcoming him to their fellowship and their 
blessedness. They may inform him how they 
were commissioned to watch over him, and be his 
guardians by night and by day, and to defend him 
from the attacks of those evil spirits who were 
continually plotting his ruin. 

5. Fifthly, the Christian in heaven will find 
a great source of happiness opened to him in the 
expansion of his mind, and the increase of knoivl- 
edge* 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 257 

In this world, his mental powers were too 
feeble to grasp anything great ; and all knowl- 
edge possible to the most gifted intellect was cir- 
cumscribed within very narrow bounds. How 
little do we know of history ! All that is possible 
for us to know of what has taken place in God's 
universe, is confined to this little speck of earth, 
with the exception of a slight allusion to a rebel- 
lion which once occurred in heaven. And how little 
can we learn of the history of this world even. 
The record of the first two thousand years — one- 
third of its existence under its present organization 
— is contained in half a dozen pages of the Bible, 
and more than half of that, occupies but half a 
page ! How many thousand volumes would be 
necessary to record the interesting and important 
events that took place before the Flood, of which 
we know nothing ; and how many hundred thou- 
sand to fill up the blanks in history from that 
period 1^ the present time ! In heaven these 
blanks will all be filled ; for a book is kept there, 
in which is recorded the minutest event that has 
ever transpired from the days of Adam, or will 
transpire to the end of time, and it will undoubt- 
edly be open for our perusal. 

And then each twinkling star is probably inhab- 
ited, and has its history, and that history may 
equal in interest, or far exceed, that of this planet ; 
and it is all known in heaven. And then, more 



l.")S PASTORS COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 

important and interesting than all the rest, are the 
annals of heaven itself, from the creation of the 
first angel, inconceivable myriads of ages back 
into eternity. What a book is here for an arch- 
angel to study, — the book of history, the history 
of earth, the history of the countless worlds 
above us, and the history of heaven. 

How little do we know, in this world, of natural 
science, and how long has it taken to make the few 
discoveries yet made ! The world had been revolv- 
ing on its axis, and pursuing its course around the 
sun in the heavens, at least fifty-five hundred years, 
till the time of Copernicus, before the wisest men 
understood its movements. The great, univer- 
sal law of gravitation was not discovered till the time 
of Newton, only two hundred years ago. Nothing 
was known of the science of chemistry till about 
the same time, and but very little till the present 
century. The power of steam has but just been 
developed. Electricity was not understood at all 
till the time of Franklin, nor the use that could 
be made of it till our own times, through the far- 
reaching mind of Professor Morse. How long a 
time it takes, in this world, to learn only a few of 
the great facts and laws of nature, and how little 
does the wisest and greatest mind know of them 
after all ! A vast deal remains undiscovered which 
will one day be developed. What facilities must 
the heavenly student enjoy for investigating the 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 259 

wonderful works of God in the material crea- 
tion, and looking into the arcana of ^Nature, 
and understanding all her hidden mysteries. And 
what a source of pleasure to a philosophic mind 
(and all will be philosophers in heaven) , to look 
at God's works, and comprehend the laws which 
move worlds in their orbits ; to learn what is the 
nature and use of comets, and whither they wan- 
der, and what is the object of their mission, as 
they plunge, in their rapid flight, into the depths 
of infinite space ; what it is that lights up the 
aurora borealis, and what that kindles the zodi- 
acal light ; whence the meteors that rush through 
the aerial heavens ; what power causes the earth 
to quake, and tremble from its foundations, "reel- 
ing to and fro like a drunken man ; " what causes 
volcanic eruptions, cyclones, waterspouts, and all 
the various phenomena in this world, and in the 
visible heavens above us 

These subjects are all extremely interesting to 
the cultivated mind ; but how little can be learned 
of them here ! Can we believe these subjects will 
be less interesting to the glorified spirits in heaven, 
as they are permitted to trace effects to their 
causes, while they distinctly see the hand, the wis- 
dom, and the goodness of the Almighty in them 
all? 

Mental and moral science, so imperfectly under- 
stood in this world, and often made more dark by 



260 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

the efforts of schoolmen and metaphysicians, who, 
instead of throwing light, have only "darkened 
counsel by words without knowledge,' 5 will be 
made clear as the noonday. 

The science of theology will be understood 
perfectly. There will be no wranglings and dis- 
putings about doctrines ; God will reveal himself 
"as he is, in all his glorious attributes. The 
mysteries of the Trinity, and the Incarnation, so 
far as God may see it is fit that created beings 
should understand them , will be comprehended ; 
the doctrines of grace will be cleared of all the 
objections that have been urged against them, dis- 
encumbered of the glosses and extraneous matter 
with which they had been disguised by worldly 
wisdom or false philosophy ; Divine truth, which 
came from above, and whose home is in heaven, 
will appear dressed in its own native, beautiful 
attire, resplendent as the sun. 

Here is the fountain-head of all knowledge 
pertaining to God's works of creation, provi- 
dence, and grace, at which the redeemed soul will 
drink to the full. The most perfect facilities will 
be enjoyed for studying, under the tutorship of 
angels, and God himself, every subject that is 
worthy the attention or investigation of an 
immortal mind : and the mind itself w r ill find its 
capacities so enlarged as to grasp and com- 
prehend what is now to the wisest philosophers 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 261 

unfathomable mystery. I have often thought 
how much Sir Isaac Newton must enjoy heaven 
when considered merely as a place for the increase 
of knowledge. Such were his views of the insig- 
nificance of the great attainments he had made in 
science, after a long life of severe study, in com- 
parison with vrhat remained to be learned, that he 
said in his old age. "I seem to have been as a 
child playing on the sea-shore, while the immense 
ocean of truth lay unexplored before me," There 
is no doubt in my mind but the increase of 
knowledge relating to physical, moral, and re- 
ligious science will constitute no inconsiderable 
item in the happiness of heaven. 

6. Sixthly. A source of happiness to the Chris- 
tian in heaven will be the exercise of the gracious 
affections, particularly those of Gratitude and Love. 
Once he was a polluted, wretched, lost sinner, in 
the road to hell : now he is in the realms of bliss, 
surrounded by saints and angels, and everything 
that is pure and lovely and good. Here he finds 
himself, washed from his defilements, and made 
holy like his glorious companions, in the enjoy- 
ment of blessedness unspeakable, and of which 
his heart never conceived before. How came he 
hither r Oh, it was by the infinite grace and mercy 
of God. through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. 
His redemption from the curse of the law was pur- 
chased with blood — the blood of the Lamb of God. 



262 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

When lost beyond possibility of recovery by any 
created power, Jesus came from heaven to earth 
and died to save him, interposing between him 
and the sword of Divine justice, and received the 
blow upon his own innocent head. A door of 
mercy was thus opened for his escape from the 
wrath to come. What love was that, which could 
stoop so low, and suffer so much, to save such a 
guilty, hell-deserving wretch as he ! But this 
was not all. He remembers that his heart was so 
hard, and his love of sin so strong, that he still 
persisted in transgression, urging his way through 
the very blood of his Saviour, down to the cham- 
bers of death, till God still farther interposed by 
his grace, and snatched him as a brand from the 
burning. By his Holy Spirit, he arrested him in 
his career, opened his eyes, softened his heart, 
led him to repentance, and turned his feet into 
the way of life ; and now, as a consequence, 
he finds himself here in heaven among the 
blessed ! How^ does his heart swell with gratitude 
to God and the Lamb, for the mercy and grace 
that saved him from eternal ruin, and brought 
him safe to Mount Zion. And oh, how blessed 
a feeling it is to be grateful. In the very exer- 
cise of this emotion toward a benefactor, there is 
a degree of happiness experienced which words 
cannot express. 

Nearlv allied to gratitude, is love. Love is the 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 263 

essence of bliss. We know something of what 
it is when exercised toward a fellow-creature, 

TThat on earth gives us so much pleasure as 
the flowing out of our affections toward a beloved 
object ! But here our love is imperfect, — it is 
to a great extent mixed with selfishness : but 
in heaven it is a pure, disinterested affection. 
It gushes out from the heart like a crystal stream 
from a perennial fountain, toward every being — 
blessing and blessed. Its first and supreme object 
is God, in whom is the concentration of every- 
thing that is lovely, and who is himself the 
source of this holy affection. It was his love 
that .led him to provide a Saviour : it was love 
that brought Jesus down to earth, to suffer and 
die ; it was love that rendered the sacrifice of the 
cross effectual to the salvation of the soul ; it was 
love that opened the gates of the heavenly Para- 
dise, and received repentant sinners to its joys. 
And now, here he is in a world of love ! Love 
rules in heaven, and flows out, like running waters, 
from every heart. The Deity is all love : God the 
Father is love ; Jesus is love ; the Holy Spirit is 
love. The angels, and the other inhabitants of 
heaven, are full of love, and the glorified soul is in 
full sympathy with all he sees about him. This 
affection is reciprocal ; it flows out from the heart, 
audit is drank into the heart. The very atmos- 
phere of heaven is, so to speak, saturated with love. 



264 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

The hearts of saints and angels are knit together 
in one, and all are united, by the same blessed 
bonds of holy affection, to their adorable Sovereign, 
and are made one with him. And this is happi- 
ness. It is enough, of itself, to make heaven a 
place of infinite blessedness. 

Love will make the soul happy in heaven, not 
as an emotion merely, but as an active principle. 
It will be acted out in efforts to do good. Saints 
and angels in glory are by no means idle ; but joy- 
fully obey the commands of God, in performing 
errands of mercy and labors of love, as before in- 
timated, not only toward one another, but, it is 
probable, they are sent off on messages of kindness 
to other and far distant worlds, inhabited by intel- 
ligent beings, created in the image of God, and 
destined, it may be, at some remote period in 
eternity, to become fellow-heirs with them to the 
same heaven. 

7. Seventhly. The crowning bliss of heaven, 
that which will constitute the chief ingredient in 
the cup of the soul's happiness, will be, the re- 
deemed will see God there, and be permitted to 
adore him, and sing his praises to all eternity. 

Heaven would be nothing without God. How- 
ever beautiful the place may be, — however in- 
teresting its society, — however great its facilities 
for making improvements in knowledge, — however 
delightful its employments, and rapturous its joys 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 265 

in other respects, all would be comparatively a 
blank, a vast empty void, without God. All love, 
all knowledge, all happiness, concentrate in him. 
He was the object of the Christian's supreme affec- 
tion on earth, and he will be to all eternity. One 
great reason why he wished to go to heaven was, 
that he might see God there ; but were he to be 
disappointed, and have no communion with that 
Being in whom his soul delights, and have no 
special manifestation of his presence, even heaven 
would lose its attractions, and he w^ould sigh to 
come back to this poor world of pain and sorrow, 
if so be he might again enjoy the smile and the 
presence of him whom his soul loveth. But he 
will not be disappointed. There the saints " shall 
see God," as they stand before the Throne, and 
serve him day and night in his temple ; " and he 
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." 
"And I heard a great voice out of heaven," says 
John, fc saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is 
with men, and he will dwell with them, and they 
shall be his people, and God himself shall be with 
them, and be their God." There, on his throne, sur- 
rounded by ineffable glory, will be seen the man 
Christ Jesus, in union with the Godhead, — "his 
eyes as a flame of fire, and on his head many 
crowns, and clothed with a vesture dipped in 
blood, and on his vesture a name written, KIXG 
OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." Christ 



266 pastor's counsels to young christians. 

will then appear to the believer, more than ever 
he did before, the w chiefcst among ten thousand 
and altogether lovely." What unutterable emo- 
tions will enrapture the soul of the glorified saint, 
as his eye rests upon that beloved form that was 
pierced for his sake, and that countenance which 
once wept for the sins of lost man ! Oh, what joy 
to behold him face to face, to share his smile, and 
to bask in the radiance of his love, while he him- 
self is "changed into the same image, from glory 
to glory ! * 

But to see God and the Lamb, seated upon the 
throne of his glory, and to adore his awful, yet 
benign majesty, will not comprise all the joy of 
the ransomed, glorified spirit. A harp will be 
given him to praise God withal ; and he will, with 
a holy ecstasy, which his heart never conceived 
of before, join his voice with that of Abraham, 
and Moses, and David, and Isaiah, and Paul, and 
of all the redeemed from among men, from every 
kindred, and people, and tongue, and nation, in 
the new, melodious song, K Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and 
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing;" to which the holy angels, standing 
round about the throne, will respond, as they bow 
in humble reverence and adoration, "Amen! 
Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." 
And then the whole heavenly orchestra, — saints 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 267 

and angels, a vast multitude, which no man can 
number, of glorified, happy beings, — as they sweep 
their golden harps, will unite in one grand refrain, 
making the heavenly arches ring with the melody 
of their song, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God 
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. 
Amen." 

And God will accept the praise, and commu- 
nicate to each and every worshiper of his own 
glory and blessedness, till their capacities for 
happiness are completely filled, so that they can 
neither ask, nor can God give them, more. 

Grant, O Father, — blessed Comforter, — thou 
risen, glorified, precious Saviour, that we all may 
meet to sing that everlasting song. 






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